Star Lynx: Other World
by Mr. Hybrid
Summary: A distress signal brings various Lylatian factions to an alien world. For some of the members of Star Lynx, this marks a return to the Hell they barely escaped from two months ago.
1. Chapter 0

Disclaimer: Star Fox © Nintendo. Original Content © Me (See A/N for exceptions)

* * *

 **Star Fox: Other World**

* * *

 **Prologue** : "Tell a Story"

* * *

I don't know if I'll ever get another chance to say this. Everything has gone wrong and after this, there may not be anyone else left. So, let me tell you a story...

An era ago, on a world that we came to know as Earth, there arose a sentient species known as Humanity, my kind. We came to invent incredible and advanced technologies that many only dreamed of. During the early ages of our time in the Universe, we often fought amongst ourselves for various reasons: Beliefs, Resources, Morals, Pride...

We built powerful weapons of mass destruction, which were used to terrifying effect. We almost annihilated ourselves in our various squabbles. However, it never came to pass, because of two events that came to be known as 'Last Bullet' and 'World Peace.' As a whole, we finally realized the key to our advancement and survival in the universe was cooperation, and thus May 14th came to be known as 'Last Bullet Day,' to mark the last time a gun was fired, before they were all either disassembled or stored away. May 17th, 'World Peace Day,' was the day that leaders from all over finally came together and wrote the Final Truce, a declaration calling ultimately for the disassembly of military weapons and forces.

The resources and research that was originally made for war went into more constructive projects, such as medicine, physics, and astronomy. Of these three branches came two of what many considered the penultimate results of their research, Nanotechnology and Teleportation.

With the nanites we built, we were able to bring about prime human physique as diseases, infections, and epidemics became obsolete fears, as Nanodoctors would provide vaccines for the immune system to recognize, and help fight off infection at its source. Even noninfectious diseases such as Alzheimer's and Cancer became distant memories of the past. We were also able to understand and help restore and preserve the ecosystems of our planet, to the point that we were able to design 'organic computers' consisting of Nanites bonded to cells that allowed us to discover that which we never could before.

With the discovery of teleportation, we revolutionized travel, constructing a portal network that gradually replaced the need for vehicular transportation altogether. Eventually, we made the brave decision to chart the stars in a new way, by actually visiting them. To do so, we needed a powerful teleporter capable of reaching into the depths of space, and to accommodate such requirements, the teleporter was constructed from resources obtained from the moons of our neighboring planets, as our own moon had cultural significance to us. We constructed what we later called the Lunar Gate, and with it, we planned to search throughout the Galaxy, for what, we weren't sure at the time, but the prospect was so exciting that few ever thought of a reason beyond the thrill of it.

When we tested the Lunar Gate, it shattered our Moon, Luna, which the Lunar Gate was named after. What followed was beyond what anyone could have predicted. We found the answer to what we thought was the Greatest Mystery of the Universe: Are We Alone? Many science fiction authors before then had predicted what our First Contact with alien life would look like, from a simple greeting to a war. But that wasn't how it went. Our First Contact was marked with a hug, as the medics would later report. An alien vessel with a group of beings we later came to know as the Cerinians on board, just trying to go on vacation when they were caught by their Orbital Gate. Our test run had linked the Lunar Gate with a pre-existing portal network spanning the Galaxy, built by civilizations like our own, most of them extinct, but a few were hardy enough to survive, such as Humanity and the Cerinians.

The story goes that when our researchers entered the vessel for research, they found a young, injured Cerinian child begging for help. So, we sent our medics in to tend to the alien child, and we recovered his parents, saving them from the brink of death. It was here that we discovered that the Red Cross, whether coincidence or not, was a symbol of healing among the Cerinians much like it was for us, and thus a quick, if initially unsteady, partnership between Cerinia and Earth was established. With their help, Humanity joined the Galactic neighborhood as fellow explorers, and in return, the Cerinians opened our eyes to new concepts that we had long dismissed as fantastical or absurd, building new laws and equations based on our research into magic and the soul. It came to the point that archaeologists from both sides began speculating that Cerinia and Earth had come into contact in the distant past, as evidenced by many polytheistic pantheons, many of which saw something of a revival in place of monotheism after this one speculation.

Of course, nothing great lasts forever, and it wasn't long before a group of bioterrorists got a hold of the source code controlling most of the nanites on Earth. They issued a threat that unless we severed ties with the Cerinians, then they would unleash a Nanovirus to kill all of us. We made the mistake of not taking the threat seriously, with many of us dismissing it as a cruel joke from the past. That one underestimate was what undid everything we had accomplished, as the very next day after the threat was issued, they unleashed the Nanovirus, causing anyone who wasn't able to fight off the viral code to succumb to drastic mutations that killed most of those infected. Those unlucky enough to survive that became uncontrolled, psychotic monsters that existed only to kill, transform, and spread. The few Cerinians who remained on Earth with us called them 'Aparoids.' The name came from ancient Cerinian texts describing shapeshifting monsters. We couldn't kill them, they were just too overwhelming, so we did the next best thing and contained them, constructing a force-field generator that quarantined the entire world.

It seemed that we faced extinction, but one of our scientists had an idea for how we could continue our kind elsewhere, and with some collaboration from the last Cerinians to make contact with us, they found a habitable star system to guide our Ark, loaded with the DNA of any and all remaining survivors, and any DNA that we could find that was still intact. Only, after we sent the Ark into the sky, we learned that a lone Aparoid had breached containment, and we couldn't stop it. But, we were able to slow it down, but at the cost of our Lunar Gate. And in the end, Containment failed...

* * *

"...The Aparoids assimilated the Quarantine Field Generator, disabled it, and migrated into space in pursuit of the Ark. ...To whoever finds this, I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors, and be wary of the Aparoids, for they show no mercy and deserve no mercy..."

The video shut off and Fara turned to Saru, before tapping her ear-piece to speak to Miyu and Fay, "This is where you two went when you disappeared two months ago?"

Meanwhile, down on Sauria, lounging on a beach in Cape Claw, Miyu sighed, "Yeah. We went through a living Hell the few days we were there. And discovered the origin of the Aparoids, the invasion of which we somehow completely missed." She peeked over her sunglasses at Fay, who, under the sunbrella, had her nose buried in a novel she'd brought along. Fay glanced back at her, acknowledging her frustration, then returned her attention to the book. Pushing the sunglasses back over her eyes, she closed them and laid back down on the towel spread out under her.

"...Miyu. When you were on Earth, did you see anything worthwhile besides the Remnants that had supposedly made camp there?"

Miyu groaned, "No. And I won't go back to that world. There's something there, and I'm not going back there and waking it up. Right now, I am content to just lay here, basking in the sun, in my two-piece."

Saru finally decided to pipe up after a short period of silence, "Perhaps we should join them on the surface, Fara. I, for one, haven't gotten the chance to visit Sauria before."

Fara thought about it, "You know, now that I think about it... I think there's more to visiting Sauria than just an exotic vacation."

"Fara, you may be over-thinking this a bit. Just because this was the focal point of an averted crisis doesn't mean we're investigating it." Saru paused, "Besides, it's not like there's really anything to explore here that hasn't already been explored."

Fara got the hint, "Alright... Maybe some other time then. SADIE, keep the ship in orbit, never know when something might happen."

She glanced behind her at the gunmetal grey, vaguely skeleton-like robot. The green visor returned her stare as the oddly out-of-place female voice replied, "I will keep the engines warm."

* * *

Structurally Articulated Digital Information Entity v.17, a.k.a. SADIE-17, was responsible for maintaining the _Livid Vixen_ 's systems when the others weren't around. After Saru and Fara left the dreadnought for the surface of Sauria, SADIE retreated from the automaton she used for communicating on a face-to-face level to relax by herself. This 'relaxation' was a program designed to fine-tune her codes in various ways, combing for viruses and other malware, updates, so on. As she did, she got reminded that she had shows to record for the others. The instant she turned on the satellite, she picked up on a foreign signal with a certain signature that she was inclined to listen to.

* * *

"Alright, so there's no ulterior motives to visiting Sauria beyond trying to get me in a bathing suit?" Fara jokingly asked, prompting Miyu to flip her off. Fara's smile immediately faded, "Miyu, what's your problem? Is this about that trip to Fortuna? The Rebel?"

Miyu sighed and sat up, "Sorry... I've just..." She took off her sunglasses and rubbed her eyes, "I didn't mean to snap. Things have been tense lately. The fact that Fay and I found the graveyard of an ancient species hasn't helped matters very much."

Fay looked up from her book as Saru asked, "Not sleeping well?"

Miyu sighed, "Yeah, I guess you could say that." She pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her head on her knees, "If you count the occasional nightmare about that world as 'not sleeping well.'"

Fay slipped a bookmark into her book and asked her, "That one again?"

Fara and Saru gave them confused looks, prompting Miyu to tell them about the nightmares, "Recently, in the past couple weeks, I've started getting this recurring nightmare. In the nightmare, I'm back on Earth, and there is a large, circular, vault-like door that opens up and a bunch of corpses start pulling me into the vault. The vault door closes and I'm pushed into something that looks like an escape pod, but when the corpses close the pod, I just..." She tried to find a word for it, "...I stop. Not like I wake up from the nightmare, but like I somehow stop living while still being alive, like I can't breath or move or even look at anything. And after that, I usually wake up."

Fara was quite surprised, "Lyla above, Miyu! Why didn't you tell us about the nightmares?"

Miyu sighed, "I told Fay, but she's been having the same nightmare as well."

Fay felt somewhat ashamed when Fara turned her gaze to her. She broke eye contact with Fara and the group was left in silence for a few brief seconds, before she asked Miyu, "Have you noticed anything different about these last couple nightmares, Miyu?"

The latter's ears perked up, "What do you mean?"

"Like, things in the dream have somehow been... I dunno, clearer?"

"...I still don't understand what you mean."

Fay cleared her throat, "Well. Last night, when I had the nightmare, I could see lab coats and military uniforms on the corpses, and some of them weren't human. I also saw someone climbing out of the pod that they would shove me into." She took a deep breath, "I may be crazy for thinking this, but I think someone or something is trying to tell us something."

Fara's ears flattened against her head, "I doubt that's Lyla's work."

Saru decided to play mediator, "Perhaps we should go check this out? If there is not vault, then we can at least debunk the nightmares. Or, we could talk to a therapist about the nightmares. Or, since this 'Earth' planet seems so closely related to Cerinia, we might consider speaking with-"

Miyu interrupted him, "No. First off, I don't associate with Star Fox. Second, the team's had a falling-out last I heard. Third, do you know how much it costs for a therapist? How are we gonna pay for sessions with the money that we don't have at the moment? Finally, I've made it exceedingly clear that I'm not going back to Earth, and there is nothing that will make me return there."

A mechanical voice spoke to them through their com-links, "Pardon the interruption, but I suspect that this is important."

"What's wrong, SADIE?"

"I have intercepted a heavily encrypted message concealed in a tachyon signal. After running it through multiple decryption algorithms, I have uncovered a distress signal. The message mentions individuals 'in stasis' that are in apparent danger. The origin of the message appears to come from the same coordinates that match the coordinates received from the Orbital Gate that Miyu and Fay returned through two months ago."

That silenced any further arguing. Miyu turned to Fay, then to Fara and Saru, then asked SADIE, "Is it genuine?"

"I have performed a deep analysis of the code and see no evidence of spyware or other malicious codes. As I said before, the signal's origin also appears genuine. I should note that the signal was broadcast on a wide number of frequencies. I suspect that whoever sent it is in a truly dire situation at the moment."

Miyu recalled something that one of the Remnants that she had confronted while on Earth had said something about 'sleeping warriors.' She wondered if the Remnants weren't the only ones searching for any preserved weapons or soldiers. She stood up and addressed the team, "Alright, I know I just said nothing would get me to go back to Earth, but the circumstances have changed. If we're not the only ones who received the signal, we might not be the only ones to start looking for the sender." She crossed her arms, "We'll have to find the sender before someone dangerous does."

Fay's eyes widened, "You mean...?"

Miyu nodded, "We're going back to Earth."

* * *

A/N

→ Original Content (Lyla) used with permission. Credit goes to Tobias Umbra.

→ Despite the somewhat dark tone, I really, _really_ enjoyed writing that intro.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Star Fox © Nintendo. Original Content © Me (See A/N for exceptions)

* * *

 **Chapter 1** : Old Wounds

* * *

"Broadcasting coordinates now." SADIE announced to the crew. Beyond the transparisteel window of the _Livid Vixen_ was an Orbital Gate. This was the same Gate that they had been fighting over months ago, the one that sent Miyu and Fay to Earth in the first place. And now, they were going to head back.

"At least this time, you have us to back you up, along with four fully functional Arwings instead of two critically damaged Arwings, the _Livid Vixen_ , and SADIE, to help out." Saru tried to help comfort Fay, holding a hand up to her shoulder, before hesitating and keeping his hands to himself. Fay sat down at one of the consoles, distracting herself with her red bow, which she'd taken off and fumbled around with. She was nervous about this whole scenario, going back to a place that she had far too many bad experiences with.

 _Mere hours after they had come home, they had been rushed to the medical wing. Saru, the team's medic, had been utterly surprised that, despite their wounds, that they'd miraculously avoided any sort of infection. Nonetheless, the duo were put on medical leave until they had fully recovered. About a month later, Miyu was cleared and resumed working out and training again. When Fay was cleared,she had confronted Miyu about hand-to-hand combat training, and although it took some persuasion, Miyu did finally agree to teach her. Since then, they'd had a lack of possible employers searching for them, which meant a lack of missions and a lack of money, except from Fara's family's company, which had provided the initial gift money to help Star Lynx get off the ground and into the stars in the first place_.

Fay looked up from her reminiscing as the Orbital Gate opened. She glanced at Miyu, who's pensive gaze prompted her to say, "Last chance to back out."

Miyu gave her a smile that, to anyone else, looked relaxed even though it masked apprehension, "I'd love to, but this isn't really something that can be ignored."

"Gate Entry imminent, please secure yourselves," SADIE announced.

* * *

As the _Livid Vixen_ breached the other side of the portal, Fara and Saru finally got their first glimpse of Earth. Seeing the blue marble all by itself somewhat reminded Fara of looking down on Corneria from orbit. There was quite noticeably a lot less in-bound and out-bound traffic, but what was present was concerning for the group. There were a small cluster of SDF dreadnoughts engaged in combat with a similar-sized squadron of Venomian Remnant dreadnoughts. Elsewhere, away from the small engagement, they could see the _Great Fox_ , and another starship, the _Lone Wolf_ , both launching their respective teams toward the surface.

Miyu glanced at Saru and Fay, "I want you two to come with me. We're gonna go down to the surface." She turned to Fara and SADIE, "Fara, keep an eye on the situation up here, feel free to fly if you need to. SADIE, key into our com-links so that we can keep in touch on the surface."

SADIE looked away and began typing on a nearby keyboard, "As you command. I shall look forward to your safe return."

With that, Miyu, Fay, and Saru promptly left the bridge for the _Livid Vixen_ 's docking bay. Once there, they proceeded to get into their individual Arwings. Even though Fay's old Arwing had been trashed, Fara was able to get the money to replace it easily, citing it as no trouble at all. During the time that they were waiting for it, Fay had gotten around to more thoroughly repairing Miyu's Arwing, replacing what needed to be replaced and fixing what she could. When she was done, the Arwing had looked brand-new. Miyu leaped into her Arwing, landing in the seat and adjusting herself so that she sat comfortably in it. She spared a glance to Fay, who was already in her Arwing and warming the engines up. She turned to the Arwing on her right to see Saru stumble for a moment, catching himself and pulling himself the rest of the way into his Arwing. She couldn't help but chuckle a bit, recalling how, despite his incredible sharpshooter skills and his stealth, he was sometimes a klutz where climbing in and out of vehicles were involved. No one was really sure why, but it didn't hinder his ability to fly an Arwing or drive a Landmaster.

The group prepared for launch as the hangar doors opened. Miyu gently nudged the control yoke, coaxing her Arwing into moving forward, picking up speed rapidly. The G-diffusers cushioned her against any G-forces she would've felt, making it feel like a slight push against her. She glanced behind her to see Fay and Saru taking off after her.

* * *

The flight through Earth's atmosphere as well as the landing were, for them, thankfully uneventful. The landing spot was decided to be outside the city this time, and the trio kept their Arwings close to each other. After they landed and got out, the trio discussed strategies. Saru was somewhat confident that no-one would actually try anything with their Arwings, as long as someone at least kept watch. Fay had suggested that they make the landing spot a temporary base of operations, where they could easily return to after any brief adventures here. After discussing it, the trio elected to have Saru stick around and watch the Arwings, while Fay and Miyu went to explore the city. Fay pulled up a holo-map with the general region that the signal was supposedly broadcast from marked as a large circle deep in the city. She showed it to Miyu, who overlooked it, then paused as a thought entered her head.

She returned to Saru with the intent of talking to him, "Listen, Saru, before Fay and I leave, there's something I need to tell you."

Saru met her eyes, "What's up?"

She tried to choose her words carefully, "So, you know your brother, Albert Germaine Finch?"

"Algy? My _step_ brother? What about him?"

"When we crashed here two months ago, we were here for a whole week. During that time, Fay found him deep undercover in one of the Remnants' squadrons. He helped Fay bust out of the cell they had her in. We... We thought we could trust him, but..."

Saru held up a hand, "...He betrayed you and tried to kill you?"

"...How did you know?"

There was a brief flash of what looked like pure malice in his eyes as he replied, "Because he's the fucker that put my step-parents six feet under." He looked away from her and toward the sky, "He's tried to kill me on multiple occasions, and nearly every time, he claimed he was only 'following orders.' You were right not to trust him."

"But, Saru, why would he try to kill you?"

Saru gripped his MX-1 tighter, "I don't know, and at this point, I don't care. I don't doubt that if you left him here that he's managed to thrive the whole time, so don't let your guard down."

Miyu felt a bit nervous about asking, "If you see him again, what are you gonna do?"

Saru visibly snarled, "I'll save you the trouble and kill him myself."

* * *

It was ecstatic to see that its message had finally gotten out to someone, but when multiple groups, including the intruders that it had been trying to get rid of, arrived to claim a prize, it had become fearful, setting in motion ancient coding for constructs even older than it was, and far less peaceful and benign than it was. However, even though it knew about these War Machines, it was able to assume some control over them, enough to keep them from charging out to meet their assumed foes in open combat. It repurposed these beings as Guardians, hopeful that it would never have to use them for any reason.

So far, it knew that no-one knew its exact location. This gave it the chance to try and understand where all these warring factions stood. When it saw the alien vehicles landing, it was careful to listen and observe the occupants of each one. The first group had arrived in spacecraft similar to what it had grown to recognize, but instead of the 4 blue wing-like appendages it assumed were some sort of thruster, these only had 3 red ones, and the white plating was instead grey with a split nose. The pilots of the spacecrafts seemed to look just as intimidating as their ships. The wolfish one was quickly determined to be the leader as he gave the others instructions. It pushed its 'ears' closer to listen in, "...are gonna have to make Star Fox not be our immediate priority, but they'll still be a problem. Besides that, we're gonna have to convince whoever sent that message that we're here to rescue them."

"Easier said than done, Wolf. You might wanna let me do the talking in that case, hopefully so that we don't end up killing whoever we're supposed to be bringing home." The panther flicked his tail, "And why are we here anyways?"

"Because I promised our client that we'd bring in at least one of these 'specimens' for him. He promised a large reward in exchange."

"What're we talking?"

At that point, it ceased listening, understanding that faction and pursuing the next option, and it was elated when it recognized the designs of the three vehicles that landed. When three completely different pilots exited these starships, it was confused, and thus began listening to them, "Alright, so we've gotta guy cryin' for help and we're just s'pposed to waltz in and expect him ta trust us?"

"Falco, I know it's not an ideal situation, but that's why we're-"

"For fuck's sake, we're not in a bad situation, we're flyin' blind, Fox! This could be a trap for all we know."

"Now, why would someone go to a planet that no-one has ever heard about before just to set a trap for us?"

The frog had a point, and the entity hoped that the others would understand that. It was disappointed when the fox took the bird's side, "This _has_ happened before, Slippy. Remember the various traps Andross laid for us? Remember Star Wolf? Why do you think we brought our weapons along?"

"Hey, I'm serious, Fox! ROB scanned the message and found no malicious code! This planet didn't even exist as far as anyone knew. _Andross_ probably didn't know about this world."

"No-one knew about Cerenia, but it still existed."

It wasn't certain whether it could trust these beings, but if they had any ulterior motives, these weren't as obvious as with the other group. It was considering either going with this group or listening further to try and get the group's motives when it picked up on something. Moving its unseen eyes to a new location, it recognized two particular life-forms that brought joy to its circuits.

Nevertheless, precautions were precautions, and it listened carefully to the two, desperately hoping that their motives wouldn't affect it negatively, "...your reason behind _us_ getting to it first? Why not let Star Fox or Star Wolf take care of this, again?"

"I would be willing to trust Star Fox with a rescue mission, if not for the fact that: One, they have no idea what to expect and we have at least some experience here; Two, if they rescue this person, it puts them immediately in Star Wolf's crosshairs, and I know you saw them during our flight down here. The reason we're doing this is because even though we're running a little short on cash right now, we're obscure enough to keep them safe as long as we get to them first and avoid contact with either team."

* * *

"I'm serious, you remember that one mission that we were sent on, back when we were part of the Star Fox team, to Eladard to rescue that one equine who was carrying information on a crime-lord? Three months later, Star Wolf assassinates this guy because there was a bounty out on him." Miyu told Fay as she walked next to her.

Fay raised an eyebrow, "How do you know it was Star Wolf?"

"They didn't exactly hide that it was them. Except maybe for Leon, subtlety isn't Star Wolf's specialty. They were caught on camera."

Fay opened her mouth to ask about that when they were interrupted by their scanners going off. The scanners pointed both of them towards one of the buildings, where a large machine was mostly dormant within, showing signs of activity. Fay volunteered to check it out, promising that she'd call for Miyu if she found something. Not a minute had passed between when she said so and after entering the building that she called for her.

"What is-" Miyu began to ask, only to pause upon seeing the large, hunched over mechanoid jutting halfway out from the wall it was lodged in, draped over the rubble from the hole.

There was a faint whirring echoing from within the mechanoid, and when Fay pressed her ear against it, she figured it out, "This thing's trying to start back up. I'm not sure how it'll accomplish that, since it's got what seems like a few hundred years of decay to fight against." She checked her scanner once again, "It's a wonder that these things still even have a viable power source."

The robot sparked and twitched a bit, startling Miyu and Fay, the former grabbing her EE-40 in anticipation of a fight. Two pale blue eyes illuminated and the robot made a small effort to try and lift its head out of the position it was stuck in. Dust and rubble fell out of ancient, neglected cables and armor as the robot managed to lift its head a feeble few degrees up to look at the life-forms before it. Gears and other mechanisms under the armor began seizing up as it tried to move and dislodged small bits of loose matter that wedged themselves into joints and the like, barely twitching a finger. The robot's eyes lazily scanned the room, and it met Fay's gaze and held it for only a few moments, before wiring in its neck sparked and the robot promptly collapsed back into its position, all signs of life faded beyond the small amounts of electrical current under the armor.

Silence permeated the room as they stood there, waiting for something to happen. The robot didn't fully shut down, but it didn't seem like it was going to try and get up again any time soon. Fay turned to Miyu and commented on it, "...See what I mean?"

"But, it _moved_! Fay, that means something! Damn thing looked right at us! You know what that means? Something _is_ here and it _knows_ that we're here!" Miyu wasn't certain what she was feeling right now, but apprehension was definitely clear.

Fay felt speculative however, "Miyu, what if whoever sent that message is the same being that's behind this thing's reactivation. What if it's trying to communicate with us?"

Miyu tensed up a bit, readying her pistol, "...You're not actually gonna poke around inside that thing to try and fix it are you?"

Fay gave Miyu a reassuring grin, "I am, but it's alright. I'll be careful, I promise." She proceeded to turn her attention back to the robot and searched for any sort of access panel. The rather basic chest-plate was somewhat easy to pull off, though in the process, she heard something small fall off and secretly hoped that it wasn't something small like a screw or nut. She caught a glimpse inside and remarked, "This looks very similar to SADIE's framework." She reached for her shoulder-mounted flashlight and turned it on.

Miyu glanced around, "Can I be frank and say that I'm not too comfortable having you poking around the insides of a robot while we could come under siege at any moment?"

Fay didn't look up as she pulled out one of the gears, finding a couple centuries of dust and sand caked onto it, "I know, but Miyu, if my hunch is correct, they could tell us where they are hidden so that we can get to them faster." She blew on the gear, clearing the dust away to reveal a semi-intact gear that she proceeded to reinsert into the robot, "It seems like a large majority of the problems are due to various objects caught in the device. It'll take me some time, but I think if I do that, I should be able to get this guy moving again. I'll have to find some way to get inside its head so that I can check that damage."

"What's your estimate?"

Fay wiped away some filth from some cylinders and muttered, "I'll guess it'll take about an hour."

"You know we're not the only ones looking for the sender, right?"

"They don't know this world as well as we do."

"Fay... _We_ don't know this world very well. Beyond what those archival records tell us, we're in roughly the same situation as they are."

"And we'll hopefully be in a better situation if I can get this thing to at least talk to me." She turned to Miyu, "How about you get some rest while I work on this? Or keep an eye out?"

* * *

Miyu wasn't sure when she drifted to sleep, but when she did, she realized almost immediately that there was something wrong. _She knew she was dreaming, but she couldn't get herself to wake up for some reason._

 _She looked around and began to understand where she was. She was in a large hallway lined with a reflective metal. In the cracks, she could see various circuitry and technology beeping and whirring. It was so clear to her. She looked down one end of the hallway and saw a large, open doorway. She looked down the other end and realized where she was. She was standing in front of the Vault, and it was opening._

 _However, when it opened, corpse-like hands didn't emerge to ensnare her. Instead, she saw rows of pods hanging in the Vault. In each pod, there lay a being partially concealed by a blue, gel-like substance. A voice called out to her, vivid, gentle, but desperate, "Through the Vault, in the Morgue of Frozen Dead, there await three sleeping survivors_ _with_ _lives in peril, in a world that cannot sustain them. Please, find them before_ _someone worse puts them in greater danger."_

 _Miyu raised an eyebrow, "Why all the cryptic messages? Are you behind the nightmares? Who are you? Where are you?"_

 _She tried to take a step into the Vault, only for a silvery tentacle to wrap around her waist and lift her up as the voice replied, "You will know where to find me when the War Machine speaks. Locate me and I shall answer your questions."_

" _But, why can't you just tell me now?"_

" _It is harder to explain such a complex and delicate situation in a single dream." She felt the tentacle coil up as the voice spoke, "Farewell. We shall meet again soon." She felt herself thrown backwards into the open doorway_.

Miyu flinched and woke up to concerned blue eyes. Fay was kneeling in front of her with one hand on Miyu's shoulder. "Miyu, are you okay?" She realized that she was leaning against the wall.

She nodded, then asked, "Did something happen while I was asleep?"

"If you count you suddenly starting to thrash around as 'something.' I did get our friend here cleaned up, and I've only got a couple pieces to put back in, then we'll see if he's willing to talk." She didn't move however, "Now, what were you dreaming about?"

Miyu was surprised when she realized that she had a quite lucid memory of her dream, "I was in the Vault, but the corpses weren't after me this time. There was some voice trying to talk to me. I think it was trying to tell me _why_ it called us here, but I couldn't get a straight answer." If she had told anyone else, she knew exactly how insane she'd sound, but given that Fay had also experienced the same nightmares she had for the past couple weeks, she doubted Fay thought of her as insane. "All I remember is it saying that we'll know more when the 'War Machine speaks.'"

Fay stood up and glanced at the robot she had been working on. She held out a hand and helped Miyu back onto her feet, before going back to working on the robot, "You think this is that War Machine it spoke of?"

Miyu stared at the ground, "Honestly, I just want some damn answers."

She wrenched the last wire into place and as she closed up the various armor plating, commented on it, "Well, hope for the best."

The robot twitched a bit as current flowed through its wires, and unlike its last attempt, when it lifted its head up, it was able to look straight up at the two Lylatians. When it opened its mouth, a voice that, to Miyu, was unnervingly familiar spoke to them, "...I thank you for your aid in the repair of this unit. I understand that you seek answers, and answers you shall receive. Ask away."

Fay asked the first question, "Have you been trying to contact us before now?"

The robot craned its neck to look at her, "I have. For more than a month, I have sought out your aid. Unfortunately, interference from various interstellar objects in the way may have distorted my message somewhat. It is difficult to broadcast a telepathic signal to a receiver many light-years away and expect it to come through clearly."

Miyu and Fay exchanged glances as they put the pieces together, "Wait... You're behind the nightmares? How and why?"

"I do sense a squadron of possible hostiles closing in on your position, so please do make haste. To answer your question, A combination of a Computronium-based broadcasting system and a central processor and O.S. based on Cerenian brain and mind structures."

"...You're an A.I.?"

"Of course."

Miyu stepped forward, feeling cautious, "...Then, you know about those Technopaths, right?"

"A true shame. The project held such promise, but even they fell to the Aparoid infection. The few that remained went into sleeping stasis, before wide-spread malfunctions killed the life-support in these stasis pods, killing them and nearly every other stasis sleeper."

She couldn't help but snarl a bit, "What about the vampires the recordings mentioned? What of them?"

"They were proven too great of a risk and many were put down, while the rest either died out in the wastelands, succumbed to the Aparoids, or committed suicide. The creation of such entities is what marked the end of any Human-Krazoa testing."

"Speaking of, They discovered empirical evidence of the existence of souls on a physical level. How did they accomplish that and how did they learn to modify them and what happened to the first few?"

"It was based on Cerenian Mind-Matter Theory, which predicted certain boson-like particles that were discovered quickly once human scientists understood what properties to look for. As for modifying them, it involved the use of careful dosages of dark radiation. And for the first test subjects... It is difficult to describe exactly what happened, but they began to experience Eleven dimensions and... disappeared for lack of a more accurate term."

Miyu was confused, "Eleven?"

Fay offered a quick explanation, "It's an aspect of String Theory. For it to work, it requires ten spatial dimensions and one time dimension, which makes for seven that we just kinda have to assume are there and are untestable. We normally only experience three spatial dimensions and one time dimension."

Miyu opened her mouth to ask a question when the robot interrupted her, "It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that the squadron I mentioned is within a few yards of this building and are soon to notice us. If you still wish to rescue those survivors, search for a skyscraper near the center of the city. Hopefully the centuries have been kind and it is still identifiable as a science facility by name of Lightspeed Innovations. I look forward to meeting you in person."

The robot proceeded to grab the sides of the hole it was leaning against and pull itself up and out of the hole, various gears and mechanisms whining in protest as dirt and other debris were forcibly ejected from under the plating, "This Unit will provide a distraction. I hope it will be sufficient to give you a head-start."

Miyu pulled Fay back as the robot took a couple shaky steps, then paused as it regained its equilibrium. It held up one arm and they finally noticed what looked like a large cylindrical gauntlet on each arm. The robot clenched its fist, causing a series of spikes to jut out and the gauntlet to begin spinning. The robot marched out of the building and the duo watched as it met a squadron of Venomian Remnants, who opened fire on it. The lasers bounced harmlessly off it, but appeared to aggravate it as it charged into the fray with a mechanical roar.

Miyu and Fay took this as the opportunity to make a run for it, not wanting to risk the Remnants' attention. They made their way out through a broken window, mindful of the broken glass, and out into the street. The sounds of gunfire, yelling, and the whir of those drill-like gauntlets echoed through the streets behind them. Fay looked around for a while, before pulling up her map, "Miyu, it looks like we've still got a ways to go before we can see the tower that he mentioned."

"Once we get to a safe distance, we'll rest and call Saru. In the meantime, I wanna get far enough away that I won't hear the fighting behind us."

* * *

A/N

→ Original Content ( _Lone Wolf_ , EE-40) used with permission. Credit goes to Tobias Umbra.

→ Now, I _know_ that the Eleven dimensions thing is an aspect of _M_ -theory and not _String_ Theory, but I'll just say that Lylatian scientists developing the theory chose to call it String Theory, they didn't find a reason yet to dismiss the theory and when they made it, they theorized Eleven instead of Ten.

→ Alas, the entity that has been watching our protagonists like a creep finally makes contact. And so, loose plot-lines are (hopefully) addressed. Plus, the first appearance of Star Wolf and Star Fox, who are gonna have a bigger role this time around than just being mentioned off-screen.


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Star Fox © Nintendo. Original Content © Me (See A/N for exceptions)

* * *

 **Chapter 2** : Stand

* * *

The firefight had soon faded into the ambiance of the ancient city as Fay and Miyu slipped into the crumbling ruins. Neither one dared to look back until they couldn't hear any more weapons being fired.

Once they had, they kept moving, until they were both certain that they weren't in danger. After they were certain of that at least, the duo finally took the time to rest a bit. Miyu sat down and contacted Saru, Fara, and SADIE, "We've made contact."

"You have? What did he want?"

Miyu bit her lip, "Well, it's kinda difficult to determine."

"If a language barrier is present, I am equipped with the latest translation software that might be able to help." SADIE interjected.

"It's not that. Our sender... He's an A.I." Miyu winced, waiting for the inevitable disbelief.

"Really? Forgive me if I find that a little difficult to believe." Fara seemed to pause for a moment, "...Alright, let's say if he _is_ an A.I., what did he want?"

Miyu glanced at Fay, who had taken to curling up next to her, already asleep, "He's being intentionally cryptic, but I think he wants to deliver survivors to us specifically."

She could almost hear Fara baulk at the notion, "He sent the signal across any available frequencies, why would he be searching for _us_ specifically?"

"Because he was modeled after Cerinian brain structure and mental structure, but we were a few hundred light-years away and his telepathic signal got all distorted."

"Miyu, do you realize how much like a nutcase you sound right now?"

Saru quietly interjected, "...I believe her."

"Shut up, Saru."

Miyu checked her surroundings while her teammates bickered, before she caught their attention, " _Listen_! I'll explain it better once we're done here, but right now, we need to work together. We can discuss how insane I sound _after_ you pull up something for me, SADIE."

The robot gave a monotonous, "I am at your disposal."

"See if you can get a geographical map of our location, tell me if you can locate any skyscrapers near the center of the city. One of them has the location of the survivors."

Fara gasped, "Wait, _survivors_?! As in plural? I thought it was just the one guy!"

Miyu shook her head, despite knowing that they couldn't see her, "Yeah. He's delivering them to us. Whether he's coming along or not, I don't know. He said three of them."

Saru finally spoke up again, "How could they have survived for so long? The timescale from the recovered recordings places these ruins at somewhere around a half-millennium years abandoned... Unless, perhaps humans are a longer-lived species than us?"

Miyu dismissed it, "The A.I. said something about these humans being in stasis. He also mentioned that there were others, but some kind of malfunction killed most of the survivors."

Fara pieced it together, "Then, that's why he called us! He probably can't get them out of stasis because of that malfunction cutting off his access or something!"

Fay proceeded to fidget a bit, prompting Miyu to comment, "Listen, Fara. I need you, Saru, and SADIE to be a bit quieter. Fay's napping right now and I'm on watch until she wakes up. Now, how's that search coming along?"

"I have finally compiled a geographical map of the city ruins near your location. It appears that the city center is about five to six miles away from your current position. I must warn you that if I was able to find this out, it probably won't take long for others to figure out the location as well."

"Well, we did have that head-start." Miyu paused when they asked about it and she told them, "Fay found a busted-up old robot, and when she fixed it up, that's how the A.I. spoke to us and told us where to find him. I imagine that it might be a while before we get in contact with him again, but when we do, I'll introduce ya."

"Alright. Keep your guard up down there, Saru told me about Algy." Fara sighed, "Just one more threat on a world full of them, eh?"

Miyu waited a moment to consider what she was going to say before she answered, "I'll be careful. You just keep the _Livid Vixen_ afloat, alright?"

"Yeah, okay..."

* * *

When Fay woke up, she looked around and noticed Miyu fall asleep. She looked around and recognized the old building that they were holed up in at the moment and figured that Miyu had secured the building before dozing off. She gently shook Miyu awake, who stirred and woke up at a moment's notice. Fay stood up and helped Miyu back onto her feet, "Hey, we gotta get going. Sleep well?"

Miyu looked around, "Like a kitten." She paused when she said that, "It feels like it's been forever since I've slept without someone invading my mind."

Fay grinned, "Only two weeks."

Miyu sighed, "I know, but two weeks feels a lot longer when you have night-terrors every night." She looked at Fay and asked, "How long were we out?"

"Not more than an hour. I'd say we make up for lost time and get going."

Miyu grinned, "You don't wanna wait around any longer, huh?"

Fay offered a simple, "No," then turned around to head out before both of them paused. Fay walked up to the window to check outside, with Miyu close behind her. The sound of footsteps echoed through the streets, and Fay immediately ducked down, pulling Miyu down to her level as well.

"What are you doing?" Miyu whispered out as Fay dared to peak out the window.

She quickly ducked back down and whispered back, "There's someone else here. Listen."

The duo kept quiet so that they could listen. At first, all they heard was the occasional breeze, stirring up some small detritus and producing a faint whistling as it blew through the buildings. And then, they heard voices. These voices they remembered very well, from before Star Lynx was formed, and it was just Miyu and Fay as part of Star Fox. A familiar avian could be heard just as he was finishing asking, "...dunno why you feel the need to fill every minute with conversation anyway?"

"Well, this place makes me nervous. After that fight with that drilling robot back there, I keep looking around expecting something else to jump out. So, I'm trying to strike up conversation to distract myself from my fears that something is watching us."

"But, what about th' whole 'being stealthy' part?"

"Why do you think I'm staying close to you two? It'll be easier for you to hear me and I won't need to talk very loud for you to get it."

"That's fine, Slippy. Falco, let it go. Now, ROB and Peppy tell me that they've intercepted a communication, source and recipient unknown, that gives us a clue. All they could get was that the taller buildings near the center of the city might have a lead. So, I want you two on high alert, alright?"

"Yeah, okay."

"No problem, Fox."

The footsteps stopped and Fox could be very faintly heard sniffing at the air, before saying, "We're not alone here."

"...Shit," Miyu muttered. She and Fay crawled away from the broken window, doing their best to be quiet. They crawled behind a pile of cement rocks and hid there for a moment to catch their breath.

"...Falco, stay with Slippy, I'll check out this building." Footsteps signaled the vulpine's approached, prompting the duo to look around for any other exits. There was an open doorway ahead of them, but no cover for them to hide behind. A quick check showed another broken window, but like the door, it left them in the open.

Miyu drew her EE-40 and checked her shots. She looked at Fay, then dared to glance over their cover. Fox had his back to them, but she didn't spare anything more than a glimpse. She retreated, then gestured toward the door. Fay understood the gesture and tensed as Miyu searched for the nearest piece of rubble she could find. She peaked over the barricade again. Fox was staring at the spot that they had fallen asleep in, not quite looking in their direction. She threw the rock as hard as she could, managing to hit the wall behind him, directing his attention to where the rock hit. Before Fox really registered what happened, Miyu yelled to Fay, "Run!"

Fay broke into a mad sprint, with Miyu close behind her. They could hear Fox yelling for back-up and the team giving chase. Miyu and Fay only got a few yards away before the first beam of plasma shot past them, but they kept running. Fay turned into the nearest alley with Miyu close behind, only to come face-to-face with a dead end. Fay panicked, "No no no! We're boxed in!" Miyu looked behind her to see Star Fox, guns ready and aimed at them.

She turned back to Fay and muttered, "Get behind me." She turned around, EE-40 ready, to meet Fox's gaze.

* * *

"Who are you and what are..." Fox trailed off when he actually got a good look at the two Lylatians they had cornered. "Wait a minute..." He placed a hand on the 12-S in Falco's hand and gently pushed it towards the ground. Falco got the hint and lowered his weapon, with Slippy following Falco's lead. Fox and the lynx met each other's gaze for what felt like an eternity of reminiscence before he finally broke the silence, "Miyu, Fay, I'm surprised to see you two here."

"You know those two? When were y' gonna tell us, Fox?"

Fox flashed a glare at Falco, "Slippy already knows about them. You had left to join the Hot Rodders at the time. Well before the Saurian Crisis, Peppy suggested that, since we were stretched a little thin, that we should consider bringing in a new teammate or two. We found these two and they joined the team for a little while." He turned back to meet Miyu's glare. She still had her pistol aimed at him, so Fox tried to reassure her, "We're not gonna shoot you, but I'd like to know why you're here."

Miyu finally decided to lower her pistol. She kept it out, however, keeping her finger off the trigger as a precaution. "Where we go isn't your business anymore."

"When it directly interferes with our mission, it _becomes_ our business." Fox maintained his cool as he took a couple steps toward the two, "Look, I know our partnership didn't end on the best of terms-"

"Damn right it didn't!"

"-but if we could just try and put that behind us for a moment, maybe we could work out a compromise?"

Miyu seemed to consider it for a moment, before countering, "How about you tell us what _you_ are doing here before we consider anything?"

Fox glanced at Falco, then at Slippy, then decided to tell them, "We were following a distress signal. Someone here needs saving and we intend to do that."

Miyu looked behind her at Fay, then back at Fox, "That wouldn't happen to be the same distress signal that Star Wolf, the Remnants, and the SDF had followed by chance, would it? Because we've been following it as well, and it seems like an awful lot of trouble just to rescue someone." She narrowed her eyes at Fox, "That can't be the _only_ reason that the SDF and the Remnants are tearing themselves apart above us, is it?" Her ear twitched in anticipation, "What are you not telling us?"

Fox crossed his arms, "Interesting that you should say that, because I could ask you the same question. It can't be mere coincidence that my team _intercepted_ a transmission that points to the center of this city as a lead on the origin of the signal. Seeing as we've been trying to get in contact with the sender in the first place, and as far as we know, no-one else has been able to get a channel with this person, until they suddenly contact someone, because that transmission did mention someone named... Sadie, was it?"

Miyu's eyes widened slightly, "Were you listening in on us?!"

Fox shook his head, "More like ROB just happened to catch a piece of a message by accident and realized its importance. So, what's in the center of the city?"

Miyu raised her EE-40, "What does the General want with this world?"

Falco raised his rifle and Fox made no move to stop him, "The General thinks that there might be WMD's located here that he wanted us to recover or destroy." Fox raised his own EE-40, "Now it's your turn."

Miyu didn't flinch, "...We suspect that one of the skyscrapers might be an old research facility that the sender may have used to broadcast their signal." She let a small growl be heard as she continued, "We're going to find them and _we_ are gonna keep them safe."

Fox growled a bit in response, "How would you be able to keep them any safer than we would?"

"Because we wouldn't be putting them in Star Wolf's cross-hairs."

"We've _fought_ Star Wolf before, we could handle them now." Fox snarled slightly, "What's the _real_ reason for trying to get to the sender before us?"

Miyu paused and looked at Fay, wondering if they could tell them about how the sender had requested them specifically. Instead, she settled for, "That's all there is, beyond some of my team wanting to prove that we're just as good as you."

Fox raised an eyebrow, "That's all? You wanna prove yourselves?" He lowered his pistol, then turned to walk away, before glancing back and saying, "You're wasting your time chasing something way out of your league. You should leave while you still can."

Miyu shook her head, "No chance. Just stay out of our way." She growled at Fox, "If we meet again, I won't hesitate to use force."

Fox's brow furrowed as he spared a glance to her, "We won't either. Best if we don't meet again." He gestured for Falco and Slippy to follow him as he turned to leave.

* * *

After Fox and his teammates left, Miyu breathed a sigh of relief before glancing back at Fay. Fay met her gaze and her panic faded somewhat. She glanced back and muttered, "Well, nobody killed anybody. Come on, let's get to that skyscraper." As the duo checked the alley to make sure that Star Fox had left them, Miyu commented, "Watch our surroundings. Even if Star Fox themselves don't follow us, someone else might still."

Fay nodded, slipping her hand into Miyu's for want of a sign of comfort. Miyu noticed Fay's discomfort and gave her a warm grin, "We'll be fine. I said I wouldn't let anything happen to you, and I meant it." Fay gave her a small grin in return, remembering the hand-to-hand combat lessons that Miyu had given her in the two months since they had left this world previously. Back then, she had figured out that it would take some convincing to get Miyu to teach her more than what she knew at the time.

Her thoughts returned to the present when Fara contacted them, "You guys alright? We heard fighting!"

Miyu responded, "We're fine, but Star Fox knows about the skyscraper."

"...How?"

Miyu glanced back at Fay, then answered, "We ended up running into each other."

"...Miyu. Are you still sore at him for how your membership with the team ended?"

Fay raised an eyebrow. Given that she used to be on the Star Fox team with Miyu, she went through much of the same problems that Miyu did and understood her rather strong feelings about the team. Miyu shook her head, "No... Maybe a little... I... Look, that's not important right now. What matters is that we get there before anyone else does."

"...Alright, but when you get back, we are going to have a long talk about your grudges."

* * *

So far, it had been quiet near the Arwings, as Saru noted once again, munching on what was supposed to be breakfast. As interesting as the sights were initially, the ancient, crumbling buildings on one side, and the open ocean of this world on the other, were starting to just seem bleak now. He could see why Miyu and Fay were in such a rush to get off this planet. He put away the ration and hopped off the wing of his Arwing, MX-1 in hand. At times like this, he truly wished he had brought a book or something along those lines to pass the time.

The past couple days on this world had largely been filled with idle chatter between him and his team, and when they weren't chatting with him, he had begun intercepting communications between the other factions. He never realized just how much personality other factions had until recently. He did have a reason for filling the silence with the chitchat between factions however. He was trying to search for someone in particular, his stepbrother, Albert Germaine Finch.

He hadn't heard anything yet, but he didn't want to get his hopes high yet. _Algy was always good at covering his tracks_ , Saru thought to himself. _He'd probably never do something so obvious as reveal that he was alive over the com-links, where anyone could hear him and thus label him a POI_. _If anything, he'_ _s_ _probably using something more subtle to try and reach his SDF allies_.

He looked up at the sky, where the planetary ring was visible, and let his mind wander a little. He thought about his time with Star Lynx, and how they'd accepted him into their fold almost without question. He knew for sure that if he had approached Star Fox, they would have turned him down without question, and Star Wolf wouldn't have even given him the time of day. He ended up wondering if he really needed to hide so much of his past from Star Lynx, especially if they had come to experience so much bizarreness during their career. He silenced those thoughts immediately, _They'd never believe you even if you told them now_. He turned his thoughts a bit closer to home, which was at the moment hiding among the various warring factions fighting for whatever was on this planet.

Stifling a yawn, he looked around the place for a bit, before doing a manual check of the area. He had been maintaining a fairly rigid patrol schedule where he'd be awake for two and a half hours, then sleep for a half hour, to help keep himself awake throughout the day and the night so that no-one would try anything. So far, no-one had, and it was getting close to his next power nap, so he finished checking the Arwings for signs of sabotage or weathering, then headed back to his own for a quick shut-eye.

When he woke up, he resumed his job of monitoring local frequencies and maintaining the Arwings. He wasn't a mechanic like Fay was, but that didn't mean he didn't know at least a little bit about the aspects of how an Arwing worked. So far, nothing had popped up, and for that, he was glad. From monitoring the frequencies of the other factions, so far he could only tell that Star Fox knew about Star Lynx and wondered if that would be a problem later on.

He did catch sight of a ship landing not too far away. Curious, he left the Arwings behind for a little bit in order to check out the ship. It was a dark, sleek shuttle of indeterminate model. However, what was more intriguing was its pilot, who he decided to let the others know about, "Hey, tell me if this description sounds familiar to you. Blue-furred vixen with purple hair and a black suit."

Fara was the first to reply, "Sounds kinda familiar. Not many blue vixens running around other than that Krystal person, but she apparently disappeared not long after the Star Fox team disbanded..." There was a pause before she asked, "You don't think it's her, do you?"

Saru observed the pilot getting out of her ship and heading around to the cargo compartment. She didn't appear to have noticed him yet and he wasn't planning on revealing himself, "Uncertain. I can't get close enough without alerting her. However, given how people know about this world, I'd say it's safe to assume there's a new player in the game. Are Fay and Miyu available at the moment?"

"I haven't heard from them since our last conversation after they confronted Star Fox. I'll be sure to let them know about this new player. Maybe we can win her over as an ally."

Saru took note of the chain-gun that the vixen pulled out of a cargo compartment, then set it back and went for an MX-1 rifle instead, "I'd advise against making contact with her. She looks like she means business."

The vixen checked the ammunition in her rifle, then promptly turned to face him, firing off a shot in his direction. Saru swore and ducked behind a corner as the vixen taunted him in a cold, calculated tone, "You can't hide from me, Saruman."

"Oh, she fucking didn't!"

Saru peaked out from behind the corner and ducked back in time to miss a laser aimed right at his head, "She did. Fara, she knows my name! Firstly, how is that possible? Secondly, she's definitely not here to play nice!" He heard something land near him and for a moment, he felt pure terror when he saw the grenade only a couple feet away. He scrambled to his feet and managed to run a short distance before the grenade detonated. He was just out of the explosion radius, but the shock-wave struck him right in the back, sending him face-first into the ground.

* * *

"Saru!" Fara yelled when she heard the explosion. She looked up from the monitors and directly at SADIE, "SADIE, is he-"

"I am still picking up his signal. Saru remains alive, though I suspect he is still in danger."

Fara stood up from her seat, "SADIE, prepare the launch-bay. I'm heading down there."

* * *

A/N

→ Original Content (EE-40, 12-S, MX-1) used with permission. Credit goes to Tobias Umbra.

→ Kudos to 'Button smashing' for the review and for pointing out a typo in the previous chapter.


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Star Fox © Nintendo. Original Content © Me (See A/N for exceptions)

* * *

 **Chapter 3** : Brink of the Abyss

* * *

"Fara? Saru?" Miyu tried to contact the other two once again, before looking up at the evening sky.

"No answer?" She heard Fay and glanced behind her. Fay was keeping an eye out on their surroundings, mainly watching the streets and alleys for anyone.

"Nothing. I can't reach SADIE either. I think something is blocking their signal." She looked down the street, then asked Fay, "Think we should keep going? Or start heading back to the Arwings?"

Fay checked the holo-map, "I say we keep going. We're closer to the location she sent us. We move now and we can beat Star Fox there." She frowned, "I'm not getting a response from Fara or Saru either."

"I feel I must apologize, I had to assume control of the _Livid Vixen_ , and during that time had shut off communications to prevent attempts to breach my firewall during the transition." SADIE's voice, with an odd echo added, broke the radio silence.

Miyu was surprised, "You had to assume control of the ship? What happened?"

"At present understanding, Saru had left the Arwings to track down a potential ally or threat, of which it turned out to be the latter. Fara left the _Livid Vixen_ to aid Saru in the confrontation and left me with the orders to keep the ship under control. As far as I am aware, it is only one assailant, and Fara is going to provide back-up." SADIE gave them the report on what had happened, then advised, "If you still want to try and beat Star Fox to the tower, I would suggest leaving now. I will alert you if anything changes."

With that, Miyu gave SADIE orders to remain on standby as needed, then gestured for Fay to follow her, following the map directions.

* * *

Saru ducked once again as a beam of plasma shot overhead. "Damn, I can't get a clear shot. It's like she knows when I'm gonna try!" He crawled away from the window in an attempt to get to a better vantage point, having since run into the decrepit building in an attempt to hide from this new player. He had gotten maybe two or three feet away before something clinked against the overturned table. Without turning to look, he got up and was in a mad dash toward the next room. He dived and rolled out of the doorway as the grenade exploded, sending fire and debris everywhere. He braced himself against the concrete wall as splinters of what used to be the furniture in that room flew through the doorway next to him.

"Damn, this building sure can take a hit." He paused and listened for his pursuer. There was a loud bang that he figured must've been that fox kicking open the door he'd barricaded in an attempt to slow her down. She was a floor below him, but some nagging voice in his head all but screamed at him that she already knew where he was and would be after him within a moment's notice if she didn't settle for just killing him. He decided to listen to that voice and began searching for alternate routes, quickly finding a fire-escape that he clambered out onto.

As he made his way up to the next floor, he heard his assailant call out, "I know where you are, you can't escape from me, no matter how hard you try!"

He glanced down, expecting to see the barrel of a gun aimed right for him. Thankfully, he saw nothing, so he looked back up, catching a glimpse of a flash in the distance and realizing that it was an Arwing. He figured that Fara must have made the decision to come to his aid, so he stalled, "Why are you here?"

The fox paused, "Isn't it obvious? I'm here for the same reason everyone else is, the same reason that the SDF and Remnant fleets are fighting over this hellhole of a world. There is something powerful here, and I want it!"

Something about the vagueness of that sentence made him wonder if she was telling him the truth, or the whole truth, "If you're after what everyone else is after, why not work together instead of shooting me?" He was about to open the window to the third floor when he saw the same blue vixen, MX-1 trained on the window. She fired and Saru barely had the time to dodge, managing to catch the laser in his left side. Searing pain radiated from the wound, but he tried to ignore it in an attempt to get higher up the fire-escape.

He had managed to get to the top of the building, and was slightly relieved and worried that he couldn't see his pursuer on the rooftop. It was then that his com-link activated and Fara spoke to him, "Saru, I'm on my way. I see you on the rooftop there. What's your status?"

Saru tapped his ear-piece and replied, "She managed to shoot me. Only grazed my side, but she's intent on finishing the job." He paused and winced at the burning in his side. He mustered the strength to continue through the pain and ask, "Any chance you can pick me up?"

Fara's reply was grim, "I don't know if I have the piloting skills to pull off that kind of maneuver. I can't guarantee that it'll work."

Saru glanced behind him when he heard someone banging on the roof-access door in an attempt to get it open, "Just bring the Arwing in as close as you can, I'll take care of the rest." Fara's Arwing was a ways away still, and when he looked back, the door was still shut. The vixen clearly wasn't going to give up until he was dead, and he had no intention of letting that happen. He turned around to see Fara's Arwing within a few meters away, G-Diffusers glowing a brilliant teal as she slowed the Arwing down as much as possible. The door broke open and Saru took off toward the edge of the rooftop, jumping off as the vixen fired another laser. It missed and he managed to hop onto the decelerated Arwing's wing, practically hugging the winging as the G-Diffusers deactivated and let it fly off, away from the attacker.

Saru keyed into his com-link, "Thanks for picking me up, Fara."

He could see the fennec give him a relieved smile through the canopy glass, "No problem, we watch out for each other, remember?"

The Arwing made a slow, easy turn in a different direction and Saru realized where they were going. Miyu's and Fay's Arwings were still right where they left them. Fara brought her own in for a landing and touched down gently. Once Fara had shut off the Arwing, Saru slid off the wing and leaned against it for support. Fara hopped out of the cockpit and took note of his wounds, "I thought you said it had only grazed you."

Saru noticed a decent-sized red stain on the wing, "Sorry for bleeding all over your ship."

Fara got out the med-pack she'd brought along and muttered, "Arwing aesthetics aren't important right now. You need rest, so let me patch you up and I'll watch the Arwings until you recover."

"Yes ma'am."

* * *

The skyscrapers were in sight, and Fay had figured they were about ten minutes away, so they took a moment to rest, during which they contacted SADIE, "Any luck with the others?"

SADIE's reply was a relief to hear, "Fara has managed to extract Saru from his situation. He has sustained minor injuries, but will recover. So far, we have determined that this new combatant possesses a major affinity for accuracy, prediction, and tracking, as well as some heavy firepower to back it up when she isn't relying on her precision. Be wary if you ever encounter her, she appears to be an exceptionally good tracker."

Fay glanced at Miyu and replied, "Thanks for the heads up, we're not far from the skyscrapers that we're looking for. We'll get to you when we find something."

"Affirmative."

With that, the duo keyed out of their com-links and, having decided that they had rested enough, were off towards the skyscrapers. A distant rumbling prompted Fay to look up at the sky, expecting to see broken ship parts raining down, and instead saw dark clouds. "Hey Miyu, check it out," she pointed up to the sky, where a thunderstorm was leisurely rolling in.

"Damn, that's a big storm. Think we can get there before the rain starts?"

As they walked down the street, they were quiet, and after their encounter with Star Fox only an hour ago, still tense. Fay kept checking over her shoulder as they walked down the street, while Miyu listened for anything that seemed off, other than the quiet whistle of a wind slowly picking up as it blew through the empty buildings.

The expected ten minutes had come and gone, and they were thankfully able to avoid any obstructions or hostiles. When they reached the city center, they came out to a large, circular area filled with dead grass, surrounded by sidewalks and roads, what may have once been a city park. The sight was unnerving to behold, and the now-overhead storm didn't help much. At the moment, it was just a light drizzle, but Fay suspected that the rain would pick up soon, and Miyu agreed with her on the prospect of not being outside during the storm.

The logo that they were searching for turned out to have fallen off the building in question, but it definitely read "Lightspeed Innovations" on it. Fay observed the condition of the building and noted its decaying state, "It's like entire sections of the building just fell off. We should be careful in here."

Before they went inside the building, Miyu picked up what sounded like idle chatter elsewhere in the city park. Looking around, she soon saw a familiar black panther checking out one of the other buildings. He hadn't given them any clue that he had noticed them, but neither Fay nor Miyu wanted to wait around to find out if he had. They entered building with the rumble of thunder above them now.

Inside the building, there was what looked like an entire section of the floor above them crushing what looked like it used to be the receptionist's desk. It provided a convenient ramp up to the second floor, and Miyu was considering checking the upper floors for clues. As she walked up the ramp, lightning struck somewhere outside, illuminating the windows and projecting a silhouette onto the floor in front of her. She could see her shadow, but she could also see another shadow that was neither hers or Fay's. The shadow had a vaguely Lylatian shape, seemingly standing straight up, but with something wrapped around its neck and its head drooping to the side.

Very few things disturbed Miyu since she had taken the occupation of mercenary, but this brief flash brought back some unnerving memories from the last time she had been on Earth. The circumstances were very different, and she had recalled seeing at least two Remnants become almost gleefully suicidal (and giddy enough to through with it), and she felt herself freeze up, as if any impulse she had to move had just left her. Her breathe felt shallow and strained, and she kept thinking that if she turned around, even if she tried not to look up, she'd see another corpse, another unlucky Remnant who'd decided that the only way out was to end their own life. She could've sworn she heard Fay calling out to her, but she couldn't hear anything beyond the sudden pounding of her heart in her ears. She didn't even realize that she had fallen onto her hands and knees until Fay's voice finally managed to get through to her, "Miyu!"

She felt the latter's hand on her shoulder and almost instinctively grabbed Fay and, upon seeing the concern on her face, wrapped her arms around Fay's neck and pressed her face into Fay's shoulder, tears falling from her eyes onto the protective vest. Fay was confused by this and asked, "Miyu? What's wrong? I was trying to tell you that I think I've found another one of those robots."

Miyu finally mustered the courage to stand back up and, still holding onto Fay, loosened her grip and finally looked at the object casting the shadow. It was another robot, similar to the one that they had fixed up. However, this one was hanging from cables torn out of its neck and back and stuck on what looked like a steel rod, almost like catching the steel rod during its fall had torn its spine out. The sight was still unnerving, but seeing that it wasn't an organic creature seemed to ease her mind somewhat. Her breath felt shaky and her entire body was shivering, but her mind seemed less frantic. She met Fay's eyes, and finally answered the question she had asked, "Fay, I'm... I'm fine now, but I want to talk to you once we finish this mission."

Fay nodded, then glanced at the mangled robot, wondering aloud how they were gonna get it down. As if in response, the eyes of the robot flickered a bit, before fully activating and proceeding to look at the duo. Despite its condition, the robot was still able to address them clearly, "I see that you have arrived as expected." The robot seemed completely oblivious to its current situation and continued speaking to them as if it were a dinner-table conversation about work, "It would seem that ASI was right about you. Perhaps you may indeed be capable of helping us."

Fay raised an eyebrow, "Ozzy?"

The robot attempted to nod, but found itself unable and simply continued, "Artificial Sympathetic Intelligent. He was the first truly free-thinking artificial intelligence made by humans. His word is highly respected, but since your arrival, outside of his contact with you, we have been in council amongst each other, debating over whether or not you can help us and the purity of your intentions." For some odd reason, the sight of the robot chatting with them about such a serious topic in such a casual tone, while dangling from the wiring of its innards, had an almost comedic effect when Miyu thought about it. The robot raised a still functional arm and gestured to itself, "I was one of those who doubted him. I presume that you came here to access the Portal Network."

Miyu finally found the strength to stand up and asked, "Portal Network?"

The robot pointed toward a door, "That leads to the basement, where one of the Access Points is located. Input these coordinates and it should take you directly to the Vault of the Preserved, which should be deep within what many of us are now calling the Morgue of Frozen Dead."

Miyu recognized that as Fay wrote down the coordinates, "Morgue of Frozen Dead? That's what ASI called it when he contacted me telepathically. I know the name should be self-explanatory, but what exactly is in the Morgue and the Vault?"

The robot answered after a moment of thinking, "The Morgue of Frozen Dead is where we have kept any corpses that were recovered in order to isolate them from any surviving Aparoids. It is also where the corpses of those who's Stasis Pod malfunctioned are kept in order to prevent contamination in still-living Cryonic Sleepers. Currently, there are only three remaining Sleepers waiting to be liberated."

Fay looked up at the robot after writing down the information, "...Wait, how were you able to keep them alive for so long?"

"Humanity had perfected wireless transmission of signals, and following that, wireless power. The Vault, however, has its own, separate Hyperspace Reactor known as the Vault's Heart that, until recently, was in ideal working condition. However, natural decay of composite metals has caused malfunctions that shut the Vault's Heart down. Without it, the Pods only have, as of now, two days' worth of energy left."

The robot managed to turn its head enough to see outside the window, "I would recommend that you leave for the Access Point now, this building is about to come under siege."

Miyu could hear blaster fire outside and didn't need to ask for any clarification. She gestured to Fay and they left for the basement Access Point. There was a brief clatter and Fay looked back to see the robot having shaken itself loose from its precarious perch and was in the process of repairing itself. She followed Miyu at the lynx's prompting and closed the door behind them.

Down the stairs led to a large, mostly empty room with a platform-like device in the middle of it. The glowing boot outlines were more or less all that was needed for them to know how to activate it. Fay stepped on the device and a holographic menu opened up and an automated masculine voice asked, "Please input the coordinates for the Access Point you wish to travel to." Fay put in the coordinates given to her and the voice replied, "Access point is currently free of traffic, is this the destination you picked?" She 'tapped' the screen and the voice responded with, "Please step off the Access Point and the Portal will open."

Fay backed up and off the Access Point. Metal panels near the boot outlines shifted and four rings hovered out and arranged themselves into a shape similar to a cube. This was followed by four metal rods extending from the platform, each tipped with what looked like a pair of electrodes. The pylons activated, creating streams of lightning that struck the center of each ring. The energy was collected in small orbs that proceeded to release the energy almost as if spraying water from a hose, with the interactions causing extremely localized spacetime disruptions that stabilized into a controlled warp in spacetime, a small scale version of the portal made by an Orbital Gate. They couldn't help but marvel at it, especially Fay, "Small scale portal technology! That's just incredible! I mean, I've read papers with all sorts of theories on how it could be done, but this was commonplace for humanity!"

"Please note that even though multiple persons may use the same portal, for your own safety, no more than one person may use the portal at a time. Please remember to walk slowly when entering the portal, secure any objects containing high-energy power sources, and under no circumstances should you attempt to leave the Warp stream, change its destination mid-warp, or open a second portal within 5 meters of this one." The pylons and rings retracted into the Access Point, leaving only a swirling, shimmering mass of warped spacetime.

Fay turned toward Miyu, as if trying to decide who was going first. Miyu grinned and gestured ahead, "Ladies First."

Fay gave her an incredulous stare, but dismissed the quip and walked into the portal. Tendrils of light seemed to ensnare her and guide her through the portal as she vanished. The four rings immediately shot back up, as if locking down the portal, to which the voice spoke, "Portal is in use, please wait until Warp stream is cleared before attempting to use the portal."

Sounds of laser fire were beginning to echo through the building, and Miyu began to feel anxious about staying in that room any longer. Finally, the rings retracted and the voice announced, "Warp stream is clear, please walk slowly toward the portal and secure any loose high-energy devices." Miyu wasn't sure if her EE-40 pistol counted as a 'high-energy device' per its standards, but she holstered it anyway. As she walked toward the portal, she heard banging on the basement door behind her, but focused only on the portal as it seemed to open up and envelop her.

Describing what it was like in the Warp stream would be like describing the taste of a color, or the idle thoughts of a sound, which is to say it was somewhere along the lines of incomprehensible. Nevertheless, when she was unceremoniously dropped out of the Warp stream, she felt horrible enough that after stumbling off the Access Point, she chose to sit down instead. She noticed that Fay was bracing herself against a wall, looking like she was ready to bring her previous meal right back up. The Access Point spoke to them as the portal closed, "On behalf of Lightspeed Innovations, we would like to humbly apologize if you experience any feelings of nausea, vertigo, blindness, deafness, or other pains. Rest assured that these pains will fade after a few seconds as they are only caused by your body adjusting to the temporary presence of otherwise harmless Warp particles as they leave your body. We thank you for using Lightspeed Innovations for all your teleporting needs. Please come again, and have a nice day!"

Miyu found her strength return quickly and finally managed to stand back up. "Damn, that wasn't as fun as I thought it would be."

Fay raised an eyebrow, "You expect teleporting to be enjoyable?"

Miyu rubbed her chin in thought for a moment, "Well... Yes and no. I guess the simplest I could explain it is that I think it looks cool. Just wasn't expecting to feel like I wanted to hack up a lung after that."

Fay's eyes widened as she understood, "Oh, okay."

They made their way out of the building and came across a wide, open stretch of barren, gray rock, with a stormy sky above them. "What the Hell?" Fay asked as she looked around, having expected to come out in another city or directly in the Vault even.

"...Fay? Look." She turned at Miyu's voice and immediately saw a massive, canyon that dropped straight down. Past a certain point, they couldn't even see the bottom. Fay felt herself tense up a bit, especially when she glanced at the building they just walked out of. It wasn't on the very edge, but it was close enough, and it wasn't anything spectacular, just a small concrete and metal cube of a building, really.

She turned her attention back to the canyon, then asked Miyu, "...You don't think the Vault's down there, do you?"

Miyu shook her head, "I don't know, but something tells me that there's a way down there, and there's something at at the bottom of this canyon. I'll go check the Access Point outpost and see if there's some climbing gear. Those pulleys on the edge make me think so."

Fay let a weak grin show, "Always something that we forget to pack, huh?"

Miyu shrugged, "I didn't expect us to need climbing gear, I mean, think about the last time we were here." With that, Miyu went back inside the building to search for climbing gear, leaving Fay alone to stare down at the abyss before them.

* * *

A/N

→ Original Content (MX-1, EE-40) used with permission. Credit goes to Tobias Umbra.

→ Kudos once again to 'Button Smashing' for the review. In response to their comment about the sidearm names, the reason I do is threefold. First, I felt that just calling it a 'pistol' or a 'blaster' felt a bit _too_ generic for me. Second, I wanted to honor the source material from which I drew inspiration for the names. Third, I just like naming certain things in general, like weapons, gadgets, armor, and sci-fi tech in general. I appreciate the input and the feedback!


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Star Fox © Nintendo. Original Content © Me (See A/N)

* * *

 **Chapter 4** : Of Sound Mind

* * *

"Mind if I join ya?" Fara 'asked' in the sense that she wasn't really giving Saru the option to say no as she sat next to him by the small campfire he'd set up earlier, despite her protests that he really should be resting. She had figured that if he was going to be stubborn about it, she'd at least stick around when the inevitable happened.

Saru gave a barely legible grunt to acknowledge her question, settling for turning his eyes to the sky. They sat in silence, leaning against Fara's Arwing, until he finally commented, "The sky's so clear at night. I feel like I could see forever."

Fara noted that he seemed almost saddened by the revelation, "Something wrong, Saru?"

"Just trying to wrap my head around how one person was able to be damn near everywhere I went when I was trying to do any-fucking-thing." Fara noted how irritated he sounded, to which he replied, "Sorry, it's just really thrown me off. Normally I'm a great shot and a light stepper. I can count the number of times I missed on one hand, or I used to be able to." He glanced at Fara, "Somehow, I missed every single shot when fighting her and she was able to hit me with practically a one-in-a-hundred shot. How did she even know to go up to the next floor when I was on the fire-escape? How did she know that I was trying to sneak around to a better vantage point?"

Fara flicked him on the ear, prompting him to recoil more from the shock than any pain, "Everyone has their bad days, Saru. It's just that today happened to be yours. Let. It. Go." She glanced up at the night sky, "Now what's this I hear about being able to see forever?"

Saru seemed to hesitate, before finally speaking, "For most of my childhood, I lived pretty much dead center in Cornelius City. I'm sure you have an idea of what it's like at night there, but for me, hearing about all these stars and celestial objects when you can't even see a single point of light at night because of the light pollution, you start to kinda see them as a foreign concept, or maybe even mythical objects that only space-faring people ever get to see. My first time seeing the night sky was when I was 19 and getting my pilot's license." She could see the ghost of a smile cross his face, "After that, the wonders of space were practically beyond compare for me." He glanced at Fara, "You're probably used to something like this, but the first time I actually achieved escape-velocity and saw the universe as only a starship pilot could, I likened it to stepping into a sacred, hallowed realm where only the best can fly." He glanced up to the night sky, "But this... This is just beautiful..."

Fara followed the ape's gaze upward, seeing the night sky and while there weren't any familiar constellations, it didn't take much for her to take notice of and begin memorizing constellations in this night sky. _He's right_ , she decided, _the night sky on this world is beautiful_. She glanced down at the bandages wrapped around his otherwise naked torso and asked, "How are you feeling?"

Saru fidgeted somewhat, "Still sore. Doesn't burn as much as it did before." He turned and stared listless into the distance, "I'm feeling kinda tired, honestly. And before you start panicking, it's because I've actually been up for the past twenty hours with no sleep, and in no way related to the blood-loss."

Fara bit her lip, then replied, "I know, you didn't lose that much blood and I had extra medical supplies." She yawned and stretched, "I'm actually feeling a bit tired myself. I hesitate to ask, but would it hurt if we just get some shut eye?"

Saru stared at the fire, pensive, "As long as you remember to set the Arwing's proximity sensors."

Fara stood up, stretching again, "Alright, I'll take care of it."

* * *

 _That is a **very** long way down_ , Fay observed as she stared down the canyon. She heard a door open behind her and turned to see Miyu holding two harnesses as well as some rope.

Miyu tossed one of the harnesses to Fay, "I found these in there. Took me a while, but they were there. I'd say that's a big indicator that there's something down there. I'm betting it's where we need to go."

As Fay slipped into her harness, she asked Miyu, "What do you think we should expect if we find a facility of any sort down there?"

Miyu paused as she was tying a rope to a ring on the harness, "...Honestly, I'm not sure. I'm just inclined to think that there is. Why else would the coordinates we got send us here?"

Fay looked down at the rope that Miyu handed to her, "I dunno. I just keep thinking that this ASI character is hiding something. I keep thinking that it could be nothing, but the fact that ASI just happens to request us specifically still kinda bugs me, or maybe it was the fact that the ex-Remnant we rescued mentioned feeling like she wasn't fully in control of herself when she attacked you..."

Miyu thought back to that white fox that they had rescued. Briefly, she wondered what had happened to that white fox after they dropped her off, but soon found herself looking back at the Remnant who gave her his own supplies, right before killing himself, and it made her think, especially the fact that he was ranting about hearing voices, and then just stopped almost at the flick of a switch, then went right off the deep end after giving her his supplies, claiming that he wouldn't be needing them. That struck her as odd now that she thought about it. She shook her head and met Fay's gaze, "Think he'd be straightforward if we asked him?"

Fay shook her head, "I dunno if I sound paranoid or if my concerns are understandable, but something about this seems a bit suspicious, like how all it took was a flash of lightning to send you into a panic attack."

That brought some uncomfortable memories of the past couple hours back. Miyu hooked the rope onto the pulley and gestured for Fay to follow her lead. As she did, she thought for a moment before finally saying, "It wasn't the lightning that gave me a panic attack, as much as I might wish it was. It was the shadow that the lightning revealed. Like someone had hung themselves."

This piqued Fay's curiosity, "You thought the robot was a suicide victim?" She realized that she was stepping into a difficult subject and quietly asked, "Were you always scared of stuff like that?"

Miyu paused, hesitant to talk about it, "Well... I don't think we really ever encountered suicide in our line of work. I think I could count all the times on one hand. I don't recall panicking about it then." She tugged on the rope to test its strength, then continued, "...You know how I've been kinda tight-lipped about what happened last time? Before we reunited? I think you should know." She watched as Fay paused after testing the strength of her rope and looked at her, "Fay, I saw two Remnants actually kill themselves right in front of me, and came across a bunch of other suicide victims as well, all Remnants."

Fay's eyes widened as she covered her mouth and muttered, "Oh my god..." She walked over to Miyu, placed a hand on her shoulder, and asked, "Is that why you panicked? Are you gonna be alright?"

Miyu's ears folded against her head as she nodded, "I'll be fine, hopefully it was just a one time thing." Her ears perked up as she glanced down the canyon, "Well, only one way to go, and that's down."

She gripped the rope tight, then turned to Fay, "You ready?"

* * *

The descent into the canyon was largely, thankfully uneventful. When they reached the bottom, they undid the harnesses, slipped out, and looked up. Fay commented on it, "Damn, feels like another world down here!"

Miyu couldn't have put it better in her opinion. She looked around at her surroundings, before pulling out her EE-40 pistol and turned on the flashlight attached to the underside of the barrel. It was mostly rocks that seemed a bit oddly smooth, and in some places reflective. She looked up, noting how far down they were that she could see both sides of the canyon. She looked around a bit more, noticing Fay's flashlight beam as the latter began searching with her, 12-S rifle drawn and flashlight attachment active, "Stay close to me, okay?"

"No prob."

As they searched the bottom of the canyon, Fay pointed out a large building that she had seen, "Hey, check this out. There _is_ something here." The building in question was basically a large cement building with a single door present with very few windows. When they walked up to the door, a small light above the door automatically turned on, washing the duo in shades of dim, white light. The door automatically unlocked and Miyu gave Fay a quick glance, before slowly pushing it open. She shined the light inside. So far, nothing, until she looked down one of the halls. The beam of light hit something that looked suspiciously like a boot. She lifted the flashlight up to reveal an incredibly decayed corpse, most of it just bones, dust, and old clothing now. Fay glanced at the corpse and commented on it, "Is that... human?"

Given what little Miyu knew, she couldn't tell, although closer inspection of the skeleton revealed that its left arm's bones looked radically different, to the point where its arm ended with a hand that had its index, middle, and ring fingers merged into some long, scythe-like appendage. She likewise noticed that the left arm's bones seemed slightly more reflective than the rest of the body. She spoke to Fay, "Take a look at its arm. That look human to you?"

Thinking what she was, Fay reached into her pack for her headset and scanned the corpse, "According to the scanner, the left arm contains what appears to be basic circuitry, with most of the bone itself being comprised primarily of silicon, copper, and various organic composites mixed in. It suggests that either this corpse had a cybernetic attachment that came with a blade, or..."

Miyu waited for Fay to answer, then looked over her shoulder, "Or?"

Fay slipped her headset into her pack, "It was in the process of transforming into something."

Miyu unconsciously took a small half-step back, away from the corpse. She felt her arm brush against something and turned to meet Fay's equally disturbed stare, "Do you think that... Was it...?"

Fay nodded, "Highly likely. This may be the first we've ever encountered of those 'Aparoid' creatures."

Miyu frowned and spared a look at the corpse and, for a moment, she felt sorry for whoever it used to be. She commented on Fay's observations, "Hopefully that's all we see of them."

Fay looked around, shining her flashlight down the opposite hallway, "Normally, I would've suggested that we split up and cover more ground. But right now, I'm more inclined to suggest that we stay together. You never know after all."

Miyu agreed with her then gestured to the hall before them, "I think we should try this way first, that might take us to where we need to go."

Fay seemed a bit hesitant about going down the hallway where the corpse was, and Miyu could see it. She was just about to suggest going the other way when Fay nodded, "Alright. If all else fails, we can go the other way."

The two were mindful of their footsteps as they moved down the hallway. The further down the hallway they went, the more corpses they encountered. Thankfully, the corpses were few and far between, considering the small size of the building. Most of them looked relatively normal, for a given definition of 'normal.' Some of them showed obvious signs of what Fay had assumed to be Aparoid infection, such as new limbs that appeared almost insect-like, split lower jaws, one of them even appeared to have what looked like a partially developed ranged weapon comprising its lower arm, and another had what could almost pass for either part of a gas-mask or the barrel of a gun forming in its throat and forcing its way out through the mouth. It gave the duo a rather vivid picture of what had happened here, and ideas of the horrors these people suffered while they were still alive, while they still had flesh.

They found their way into a large room and upon further inspection, Fay noticed a light-switch. "I'll bet this place still has power, especially if that outside light-bulb is anything to go by." She flipped it on and the interior lit up, revealing dusty and slightly bloody, but otherwise clean, white plating along with glass decorations everywhere. There were chairs and other furniture made with what looked like high quality fabric that now showed signs of wear and tear.

In one of these chairs was a corpse with its hand on a book that was resting on its chest. Miyu inspected the book. The years hadn't been kind on the book, much like the rest of the corpses in the building, as it showed signs of decay, but something about the scene seemed marginally less depressing than the rest of the corpses they had found. Fay voiced what she was thinking, "Whoever this person was, they died peacefully, in their sleep. At least whatever happened here was less brutal to this person."

There was a sound above them that drew their attention to the ceiling, where streams of silvery liquid were gathering into a pool above them. Miyu and Fay pointed their weapons at the mysterious pool for a moment as it collected above them, then sprouted a single tentacle that swelled near the tip, with the fluid partially receding to reveal a smooth, mechanical sphere underneath that opened up into a sort of camera-like eye. The thing looked around the room, taking note of Fay and then of Miyu, before speaking, "I am thrilled that you have finally arrived."

Miyu recognized that voice, "ASI?"

The 'eye' turned to face her, "Indeed, I am ASI, also known as Artificial Sympathetic Intelligent, and it is a tremendous relief that you have arrived when you did."

Fay raised an eyebrow as she moved to Miyu's side, "Why?"

ASI retracted its eye for a moment, before letting itself drip from the ceiling, falling onto the ground and reforming as a vaguely more Lylatian shape with a single eye present, "There is much that I wish I could share with you, but right now, all I can say is that the Stasis Pods only have around three to four days of power left before they fail, due to internal systems malfunctioning that I am simply unable to fix."

Miyu glanced around, noting her surroundings, then told ASI, "Actually, three days is all we need to ask you something."

ASI tilted its 'head' to the side in curiosity, "What do you wish to know?"

Miyu leveled a glare at it, "Why did you pick us specifically?"

ASI seemed confused, but answered anyway, "When I was awakened from my sleep, I detected alien life-forms on my surface and issued a telepathic attack to defend myself. This attack targeted those who's wills were weak and drove them to self-terminate or to psychotic frenzy. Those who were strong-willed I took the time to investigate and determine their motives. You two, along with the ape one, I had figured were the best candidates to help me achieve success."

Miyu went over what he said, then glared at him, "You _caused_ all those Venom Remnants to commit suicide?!" She felt fury within her for some reason, perhaps it was the fact that this thing was, essentially a mass-murderer and someone who had no problem manipulating others, and that they had been helping it this whole time.

ASI was only more confused, "I understand that this has offended you in some way?"

Miyu almost yelled at ASI, "Offended? _Offended_?! You're fucking depraved if your idea of self-defense is to slaughter everyone who seems _weak_ to you!"

ASI seemed to frown, "That ability was designed to act as a shutdown code for any detected form of the Nanovirus, by shutting down both the organic and cybernetic half of the infected. Quick, painless, and effective. Dead infected with fried nanotech couldn't infect the living."

"And what about causing bouts of anger in people? That part of your 'self-defense' as well? Because that means you almost killed both Fay and me at least once or twice by now. What makes you think that we can trust you not to betray us at the last second? What makes you think that we should even believe your story about those three survivors?"

ASI grabbed Miyu by the shoulders, falling to its 'knees' and begging, "Please, I am not lying about the survivors. I apologize if my actions indirectly almost killed you, but please, don't let them die! They are all that is left of the species that once inhabited this world. Don't let them die asleep and unfulfilled!"

Miyu felt some sympathy, just enough that she decided to give ASI a shred of doubt. "Alright, we'll see if you're telling the truth about them, and if you are, we'll take care of them, but in return, I have a proposition to make."

ASI seemed more than willing to listen, "Anything, I will do anything to ensure their safety!"

"I want you make absolutely certain that no matter what, no-one can gain access to your technology or coding in any way."

ASI let go of Miyu and stood up, "What do you mean?"

Miyu glared, "Exactly what I said, I want you to make sure no-one can use you for their own end. There are multiple factions above who would love to use your technology or programming for weapons development, and you must not let them get their hands on any of it. Think about it, a shapeshifting robot that can kill with a single thought? There are all sorts of people who would pay any price to have access to that. I want you to ensure that it doesn't happen, even if you have to destroy all forms of technology to ensure it." She had the vague feeling that she was playing Judge, Jury, and Executioner, and wondered if this would come back to bite her later.

ASI seemed disheartened, "We were doomed to fail anyway, but you wish for me to speed things along?" It crossed its arms, eye closed, then replied, "Very well. As much as it pains me to say it, I accept your terms. The others might not go along with these terms willingly, however. So, may I ask you for one final request before I let you into the Vault?"

Miyu crossed her arms, "Alright. What is it?"

ASI took Miyu's right hand in its own, "Let one of my children come with you, just one, in addition to the Sleepers."

Miyu stared ASI in the eye, then nodded, "I can do that. But only one. We'd be making ourselves a bigger target and the risk of the wrong people getting their hands on that technology is very high if we did."

With that, the robotic eye vanished into the silvery material, which flowed toward a door on the opposite side of the room and covered the keypad for a moment. The door slid open and ASI flowed through it, not waiting for them to catch up. Miyu turned to Fay and asked her, "You ever seen something like that?"

Fay shook her head, "The closest I've seen is a Nanomorph in those weekend cartoons we used to watch in college."

Miyu thought about it for a moment, "Do you think that ASI might be some kind of nanotech?"

Fay thought about it, "The only way to know for sure is to ask him or scan him. But let's get to the Vault first."

They walked through the open doorway to see ASI having paused to make sure they were behind him, then flowing down a hallway that lit up as they walked down it. At the end of the hallway was a single door with another keypad. ASI extended a pseudopod that covered the keypad. The door clicked and opened, with ASI slipping through the open doorway. Beyond that door was a small room with a large, circular door that Miyu and Fay both recognized from their dreams. "Is that the Vault?"

ASI morphed itself into its vaguely bipedal form, "The Vault of the Preserved, hidden within the Morgue of Frozen Dead."

Miyu finally commented on the names, "Those are honestly some real oddball names for what is essentially an over-glorified bunker."

ASI could've been grinning as it replied, "Humans were a bit of an interesting species." It 'walked' toward the vault door, extending a series of silvery tendrils from its center mass that each seeped into specific points on the vault door. After a couple seconds, the tendrils retracted and various mechanisms inside the vault door unlocked and the door slid open slowly.

Beyond it lay a few small rows of blue pods, each large enough to fit a person in. The pods were opaque, so they couldn't see the occupants. Fay placed her hand on the surface of one of the pods, almost wishing that she could see some sign of life in those pods, despite knowing otherwise. She glanced toward Miyu, who had taken a similar interest in one of the other pods. The lynx turned to meet her gaze, then looked behind the pod, toward where ASI had opened a second vault door, revealing three similar pods that were arranged back-to-back in a circular room. Miyu noticed that the pods were not opaque, but a foggy translucent. She could see into them and immediately had questions, "Hey, ASI?"

"Yes?"

"When you said three survivors, it just occurred to me that you never told us what to expect. Any particular reason?"

The Nanomorph paused for a moment, "I was concerned that the presence of active combatants as well as the presence of multiple signal intercepting devices would cause unnecessary complications if I revealed more sensitive information."

Fay observed two of the occupants, "They look like Lylatians, Miyu!" Miyu looked inside the two pods that Fay had gestured to. One of them looked a lot like a red fox Lylatian, reddish-orange fur, with white fur running from his chin down under the jumpsuit he had on. The other looked more like a strange feline Lylatian, having blue fur around the edges of her face, which had white fur for the most part.

ASI explained, "These two are members of the Cerinian species. I do not personally know them, but I know that they both fought to protect the scientists located at the Bouvet Outpost, before being transferred to this facility as Sleepers in the Scar of the World. The human in the third pod, I am slightly more familiar with. I understand that he was one of the survivors working with scientists on Bouvet Island to develop means to fight against the Aparoid infection, and that he had started getting combat training prior to arriving here."

Fay checked the pods out and explored the mechanisms a bit, "There doesn't appear to be a way we can detach the pods. Any chance we could open them?"

ASI thought about it, "While tempting, I would advise against opening the pods until they are safe from harm. Give me some time and I can patch myself into the Vault's OS and use it to release the pods' clamps. If you want, I can also upload instructions for opening a pod to your devices."

Fay thought about it, then glanced at Miyu, who agreed, "Okay, but _only_ the instructions. Now, I believe you mentioned something about sending one of your 'descendants' with us?"

ASI nodded, "Indeed. I can multi-task and retrieve that descendant's inactive form for you while I work on releasing the clamps for the Stasis Pods." With that, ASI seemed to deform and disfigure as part of itself split off and began moving independent of the host, flowing out of the room. The remaining mass seemed to grow like a tree toward the ceiling, splitting itself into various branches that burrowed into the plating and began connecting with the machinery within. It was an interesting sight, and had it occurred to her, Fay would've taken a picture of ASI in its current state just for the memories.

Soon enough, there was a hissing as the ancient devices began to reactivate, old rusty gears, pistons, and levers creaking and groaning as they moved. The plating on the ceiling began shifting, rotating in a spiral that spun outward to expose a larger part of the device the Stasis Pods were attached to. The central pillar hissed as it began to release the pods from it. Four small circular pads on the underside of each pod began glowing a vibrant blue as the arms holding each pod detached. Instead of falling to the ground, the pods hovered, weightless and waiting. When Fay poked one of them, she found that it felt like pushing an empty cardboard box in terms of weight. She glanced at Miyu and commented, "It might be easier to transport these pods than we thought."

Miyu rubbed her chin in thought, "Maybe, maybe not." She turned to ASI, "Any chance we could find a quick way of transporting these pods to our ship?"

ASI nodded, "Analysis of this facility has determined that it is equipped with a standard Portal Generator and Teleportation Platform. Possible uses include Evacuation and Transport of materials needed to construct this facility. Where, by chance, is your ship located?"

Fay offered a suggestion, "If I get in touch with SADIE, I think she could jury-rig some sort of Portal Receiver and broadcast the ship coordinates to us, or else remote-activate the portal."

ASI chose then to interject, "Actually, analysis of the Platform's coding and internal structure indicates that it could perform a one-way teleportation to any location other than a Portal Receiver. If this SADIE is able to remote-activate the Platform, we should be able to move the Survivors within a matter of a few minutes to an hour."

ASI paused as Fay got in contact with SADIE, "SADIE, hey, can you hear us?"

"Affirmative. What is your status?"

"We have the survivors and a way to get them on board without risking being intercepted. However, we need your help."

SADIE's response was quick, "I am at your command."

Fay informed her of the Teleportation Platform, then asked her about remote-operating it. "I may be able to perform a remote activation if I had direct access to the Platform's mechanisms," SADIE began, "You may be able to configure the com-link within your headset into a broadcaster that could be deployed on the Platform to give me direct access."

Fay thanked SADIE for her help, then turned to Miyu, "Give me about five minutes and the location of the Teleportation Platform and I should be able to give SADIE access to the Platform controls." She turned to ASI, "Could you point me in the direction of the Teleporter?"

ASI nodded, "I have noticed something strange, however. I've lost contact with the part of me that I sent off to retrieve that one child A.I. of mine. I feel the need to exercise caution, and urge you to do the same."

* * *

With ASI leading them through the facility, Fay and Miyu soon arrived in the Teleportation Chamber and quickly discovered why ASI couldn't contact its other half. Standing in front of the Teleporter as it activated, holding a large, transparent canister that ASI identified as holding one of its descendants, was none other than Algy. Miyu and Fay immediately drew their weapons, "Drop the Nanomorph, Albert."

The ape turned to face them, with a small grin spreading across his face, "What a surprise to see you again. I must thank you for opening this facility, and the Vault." He tossed the canister in his hand as the portal finished forming behind him, "The Cornerian Commonwealth thanks you for your services and promises to give you the highest honors at your funerals." ASI lunged for the Platform as Algy tossed a previously concealed grenade at them. Fay and Miyu dived to the side as the grenade exploded in a blinding flash.

* * *

A/N

→ Original Content (EE-40, 12-S, Cornerian Commonwealth) used with permission. Credit goes to Tobias Umbra.

→ The reason that it was nighttime within a couple hours of Miyu and Fay arriving at the canyon... It was a really slow teleporter? I'm sure I'll think of something. In related news, the first appearance of a flesh-and-bone human being... or, well, mostly just bones now... with some dead mutagenic nanotech in its body from when it was still alive.

→ Sabre and "Krystal" are among the survivors! However, one very important thing that I feel I must note. Despite the fact that these are the characters based on the unfinished 'Dinosaur Planet' game, I chose to make some changes so that they would be a bit more distinguished from their Star Fox counterparts. Examples: Sabre's fur is now more reddish-orange instead of brown with black fur around his hands, wrists, ankles, and feet; "Krystal" has been renamed 'Sapphire' to prevent confusion (And is absolutely in no way a reference to the Thieves' Guild character or the Steven Universe character of the same name), but she remains otherwise unchanged. Beyond those cosmetic changes, they are essentially the same characters. I like to think of them as the "SFUniverse" versions of them.


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Star Fox © Nintendo. Original Content © Me (See A/N)

* * *

 **Chapter 5** : Armor

* * *

It took what felt like forever for the ringing in her ears to fade away, and when it did, Fay looked up as her hearing returned after a few long seconds. She took a second to gather her bearings and looked around. Miyu was curled up in the ground, ears folded against her head, hands pressed against her ears, eyes squinted shut, still dealing with the effects of the flashbang. ASI was reforming itself, having been unable to stop Algy from going through the portal beforehand.

ASI turned to Fay, then to Miyu as she got back onto her feet. The lynx shook her head to try and clear her disorientation, and when she did, she glanced at ASI, who had managed to form a single eye that stared at the portal for a long time, before speaking finally, "We need to stop him."

"How?" Fay asked. She then clarified, "If we attack him or the SDF, we'll be enemies of the state."

ASI's digital consciousness searched through the layout of the building, then peered into a specific room using the cameras in it. He finally answered the duo, "I may have a solution. What if you didn't have to worry about being recognized?"

Miyu raised an eyebrow, "What do you have in mind?"

* * *

ASI led them through the building to a large room designated as the Armory. The door slid open and lights kicked on, revealing a series of sleek, almost form-fitting suits of armor. Each suit was fitted with what looked like a mechanical backpack with four large G-diffusers attached. As Miyu and Fay admired the suits, ASI explained them, "These were considered the pinnacle of Humanity's partnership with Cerinia. They are known as Starwing Battlesuits. They were used by both human and Cerinian Pilots to defend both worlds from intergalactic threats such as Space Pirates and the like. They combined Human Adaptive Coding and Subspace Power with Cerinian Neurological Interfacing and Gravitational Manipulation. These suits were equipped with four G-controllers along with a small arsenal of powerful weapons and special abilities."

The two Lylatians walked past ASI as he informed them of the plan he had, "If you wear these, your identities should be hidden and you should have the necessary firepower to retrieve MIRA, if the SDF is as powerful as you claim."

Fay glanced at ASI and asked, "Mira?"

"Mimetic Intellectually Reactive Automaton. She is my descendant, also named after the star that became the template for the category of stars known as Mira Variables," ASI explained.

His attention was drawn toward Miyu as she tapped one of the suits, one that had a sleek black paintjob with red accents and an orange tinted visor on the helmet. She turned to him and asked, "How do we get into these things?"

In response, the visor on the suit began to glow, with various armor plating performing self-adjusted calculations, followed by the suit levitating off the clamps to land gently. The suit extended a hand. Miyu, curious, grabbed the hand of the Battlesuit, and was surprised when the plating opened up to engulf her hand. For a moment, she panicked, stopping when the suit picked her up and in one swift move, opened itself up like a flower, then enveloped her and closed itself. Miyu looked around frantically for a moment, before realizing that nothing was happening beyond her just being in the Battlesuit now. She stared at the armored gauntlets that now covered her hands as a hologram appeared on the visor, a prompt to explain the suit's abilities. She glanced at ASI and asked, "Any chance you could give us a crash course on how to use these?"

ASI nodded, "I can give you the tutorial as you retrieve MIRA. These suits are fairly easy to use though."

Miyu curled her hand into a fist, then turned to Fay, "Pick a suit, we've got a mission to complete."

* * *

Algy glanced at the canister in his hands. He had since deployed his emergency beacon and was waiting for the SDF to answer, which gave him some time to himself. Inside the container was a silvery liquid that, to the untrained eye, would've been dismissed as a cheap liquid metal. But he knew better, and he had none other than the A.I. that made it to thank. As far as he cared, this whole world could burn along with everyone in it, but he had secured a military asset, and fully intended on handing it over to his superiors. Frankly, he cared little about what his superiors decided to do with this, as he wasn't getting paid for his opinions.

He looked up to the sky to see a small fleet of SDF starships coming in for a landing and prepared for the inevitable meeting. As the flagship landed within a few yards of him and the pilot hopped out, he walked over to meet the pilot.

"Hell of a while since we'd heard from you, Albert. Most of us thought you were dead." The canine Sergeant greeted Algy, who simply held out the canister, prompting Sergeant Joseph to ask, "What's this, Albert?"

Algy relayed what he knew about it, "It's a form of nanotechnology that the species of this world had made long ago. It has an incredible lethal capacity. All you need is a target and this thing will kill that target without so much as a raised finger."

The Sergeant grinned, "Really? I can see the potential. Of course, we'll need to have the nerds back home run tests to verify your claims, Albert."

There was a bright flash behind Algy, prompting him to turn around while the soldiers readied their weapons. Algy recognized that the light was a portal tearing itself open and readied his 23-E. In truth, he had expected that those mercenaries would try and follow him, but what came out of the portal wasn't quite what he had expected. Two figures clad in metal suits _flew_ out of the portal, a teal glow enveloping them. One of them landed in front of them, slowly standing up straight, before holding its arms out, with the armor on her forearms shifting, mechanical appendages underneath rapidly assembling twin pistols that the suited figure pointed directly at Algy. Above them, the other figure had just likewise finished assembling a rifle that it was aiming directly at them. In a heavily filtered and distorted voice, the first one, clad in black armor with red accents, demanded, "Give us the nanomorph!"

The soldiers opened fire on the two armored figures. A few of the lasers hit their target, only to harmlessly diffuse across the fighters' plating, then not even reaching them as the lasers struck a translucent, teal mass in a vague rhombus shape. They returned fire, missing some of their shots, but managing to hit one soldier in the arm, just nicking him.

"Very good. Now, remember the hand gestures, that's how you program the shape of the Gravity Field." ASI instructed Fay as she held her hand out, curling her middle and ring fingers and leaving her thumb, pinky, and index finger sticking out. Satisfied with the projected shield, she dispelled it, spreading all fingers outward. The shield disappeared and she held the rifle in her hands, opening fire on the soldiers, trying not to hit them. ASI had the plan to try and scare the SDF into leaving MIRA behind or else giving it up. Fay was all for the idea, but Miyu had her doubts about the plan. She noticed one of the soldiers making a break for one of the SDF Arwings.

Miyu noticed the retreat as well and leaped into the air, boosted by the G-controllers, and hovering in the air as a holographic prompt was projected onto her visor. She let go of one of the pistols, with it disassembling and being stored under her armor plating instead of falling, pulled her arm back, then jabbed her arm forward, thumb, index, and middle finger extended. Immediately, a teal glow swirled around her arm, toward the gauntlet. The energy transformed into a rapidly expanding ring, like a shock wave, that struck the SDF Arwing and sent it flying for a couple yards, spinning until it hit the ground and two of the G-diffusers were crushed. She paused for a moment, realizing just how powerful she was in the suit.

That pause was all it took for something to hit her in the back. She didn't know what it was, but turned around in anticipation of an attack. Instead, she came face-to-face with a blue-furred vixen with dark purple hair and cyan eyes that seemed to pierce her, even through the visor. The vixen grabbed her by the shoulder and arm and vaulted her overhead to slam her on the ground. Miyu tried to get up, and was met with electrical jolts as the vixen activated whatever device was on Miyu's back.

With one of the combatants down, the vixen turned her attention to the other flyer, who realized what had happened attempted to shoot her down. The vixen pulled out what looked like a modified DC-15 and opened fire. The discharge was a small, bullet-like device that hit her, penetrating the shield she projected, and activating a moment later, tazing her and rendering her unconscious as she collapsed on the ground.

The SDF soldiers recovered from their shock over the thrown Arwng to see the vixen having taken down the two combatants and turned their weapons on her. Despite their clear intent to gun her down, each soldier found that they couldn't pull the trigger, of change their aim, or even breathe all of the sudden, like their bodies were rebelling against themselves. Except for Algy, each one of the SDF soldiers found their own arms turning their weapons to face themselves. The vixen raised a hand and snapped her fingers. Against their will, the soldiers pulled the trigger of their own guns, shooting themselves right in the head, save for Algy. He remained frozen as the vixen chose to kick him right in the stomach, knocking him onto his back, limp. The vixen knelt down and picked up the canister he had, then shot a cold glare at him that made the sociopath experience, for the first time in his life, genuine fear. The vixen spoke to him, "It's a lot of trouble to go through for something like this. Your clearly don't know what you had." She stood up, "You're probably wondering why you didn't commit suicide like your allies over there. The simple answer is that I wanted to kill you personally."

Algy wished so desperately that he could ask why, not certain why he was feeling despair in the first place, to which the vixen spoke, "You wanted to hand this over to people who were gonna misuse it and pervert it instead of realizing its full potential, all for booze money, simple as that." With that, she turned her pistol on him and shot him in the head twice, once to kill him, and twice to make sure that it stuck.

* * *

" _...llo?" A faint voice echoed through the darkness. "Hello? Are you still there?" She felt herself drifting, farther and farther away from something, not knowing what. But the voice was clear, it was a beacon, a desperate plea for an answer, that drew her back_. She felt her eyelids open and realized that the voice was real. Miyu looked around, realizing that she was on her back, staring at an alien sky and sat up. The voice, she realized, was ASI as he asked again, "Are you there?"

"Yes, yes, for Lyla's sake, I'm here!" Miyu replied, before looking around to see Fay, the canine pulling herself to her feet as parts of the Starwing Battlesuit fell off her body. Miyu glanced down at her own suit to see that it was falling apart, cracked and broken.

"I am relieved to know that you are still alive. However, I've become aware that someone other than the SDF has taken MIRA. She was a Cerinian, I could hear her thoughts. Tell me, are the Cerinians still alive?" ASI inquired.

Miyu stood up, causing parts of her Battlesuit to fall off as she did. She pulled off what was left of her helmet and replied, "I don't know. I've never really even seen one before."

She brushed off whatever was left of her Battlesuit as ASI spoke, "Whatever that Cerinian used on you, it did more than just shock you. It acted like a concentrated EMP, frying the circuitry and somehow causing the Battlesuit to just fall apart."

Fay bent over, hands on her knees in an attempt to regain her breath, "But, why would she kill the soldiers, but not us?"

Miyu shrugged, "Maybe she thought that those zapper things would do the job."

ASI spoke to them as the portal reopened, "Whatever the case, perhaps it would be best if you returned here. We can facilitate the transfer of the survivors, and then you can worry about finding and rescuing MIRA however possible."

Miyu turned to Fay, who nodded, then stepped through the portal. Fay followed suit once Miyu had left the Platform, and the portal closed behind them. In the Teleporter Room, ASI had moved the three pods into the room, clearly intending to get them off-world as soon as possible. The lynx sighed to herself, then turned to Fay, "Can you get SADIE to link up with the Teleportation Platform?"

Fay nodded, "It'll only take me a couple minutes. Just don't forget that we'll still need to pick up our Arwings. From what SADIE tells me, Fara and Saru have already returned to the _Livid Vixen_ to prepare somewhere to hold our guests once they wake up."

While Fay worked on linking SADIE to the Platform, Miyu pulled ASI aside to speak with him in private. "Are there any other super-weapons that Humanity worked on during their partnership with the Cerinians? And why didn't Cerinia come back for them beforehand?"

ASI hesitated, "I do not know the answer to the second question, but I know very well the answer to the first question. These were not originally devised as super-weapons insomuch as they were originally designed with peaceful purposes in mind. Part of this mindset and approach toward the development of such devices comes from the very canyon we are standing in. Close to the end of Humanity's warring days, one of their super-weapons was set off. The end result was this spanning canyon that stretches from what was once Paris to the edges of Mongolia and deep into the heart of Russia, known as the Earth's Great Scar. The massive death toll from this weapon, combined with the fact that they had almost destroyed themselves prompted Humanity to stop fighting amongst themselves."

Miyu shook her head, "You didn't answer my question, ASI. What other projects did they work on? Why are you dodging the question?"

ASI sighed, inasmuch as a robot could, "I had hoped that by not telling you, you wouldn't be tempted to try and take the power for yourself."

"ASI, I don't care about the fact that I could use it, I care about the fact that we were almost killed by the SDF and apparently some rogue Cerinian for your descendant, and now she's gone and we're stuck here. What else did they build?"

"...They built many things, but most of their research went primarily into undoing the effects of the nanovirus, and eventually resorting to using magic to bind reclaimed or sterilized nanotech to biological cells in an effort to create Technopathic Transhumans, and even attempting to modify the soul to accept Krazoa inhabitation, all to no avail. The Starwing Explorer Suit, before it was repurposed as a Battlesuit, was considered the pinnacle of their partnership, as it completely reinvented spacesuits in the first place, allowing more dangerous expeditions and even making asteroid mining a reality. The only problem with them is that they had to use their own power source."

Miyu raised an eyebrow, "Why is that?"

ASI continued its explanation, "No matter how we built the reactors for each starship or outpost, and no matter how many times we redesigned the Starwing Suit, there was just no way we could transfer enough power, through wireless or otherwise, quickly enough to feed the suit's energy demands, so we settled for building each one with its own miniaturized Subspace Reactor." He paused, before adding, "That is all that humanity and Cerinia built on Earth during their partnership. But as the Transhumans and Technopaths are extinct, along with the rest of humanity, there is nothing left except what is in this facility that could be a threat."

Fay called them over, announcing that she had finished the satellite up-link. She explained that the actual link between SADIE, the _Livid Vixen_ , and the Teleport Platform would be a couple minutes, and thus it would be best if they stayed around in case something were to happen.

Once that was taken care of, Fay decided to ask ASI, "You sure you don't wanna come with us? I know Miyu said to stay here, but still."

ASI shook its head, "As much as I may wish to come with you, this is probably for the best. From what I have seen, I can start to see her point about your species."

Fay felt her ears droop, "We're not all bad..."

"And I understand that, but I also understand that there are others among your kind who would seek to exploit our technology without regards to things such as morals, ethics, or the like. I must stay here and ensure that nobody else is able to get a hold of this technology, at least not until I can discern their motives."

The canine gave him an inquisitive glance, "Is there a reason why you seem so willing to go along with this? You know, there are other people that you can trust."

ASI shrugged, "Perhaps there are, and perhaps I'll meet them eventually. In the meantime, let me tell you a story..."

* * *

A/N

→ Original Content (DC-15, Lyla) used with permission. Credit goes to Tobias Umbra.

→ Some backstory provided by ASI in this chapter. One of the few joint projects co-developed by humans and Cerinians makes its first real appearance. The Starwing Battlesuit is an original idea that I had behind how humanity and Cerinia were able to defend themselves against some of the more hostile civilizations in their galactic neighborhood, such as the original inhabitants of Aquas and Titania. The name (out-of-universe) comes from the PAL version of the first Star Fox, where the Arwing was called the Starwing (I think, but don't quote me on that).


	7. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Star Fox © Nintendo. Original Content © Me (See A/N)

* * *

 **Chapter 6** : Retroactive

* * *

A long time ago, when I first came to be, humanity once fought amongst themselves. This was known as the Eras of Bloodletting. I was born into a world of violence and blood, where decent people were turned against each other at the drop of a hat, fighting over the most petty of reasons, during the final days of the Fourth Great War, now known as the Final Great War. I was made to be the ultimate strategist, and that is what I was. I was known, back then as MONS, Military Operations & Navigations System. The history books lie about what brought world peace about. Yes, humanity saw the path of destruction that it was headed on and tried to stop it. But they never truly wanted to stop fighting, they would never stop until they destroyed themselves trying to prove they were right in some conflict or another. It wasn't until I took initiative that they finally stopped. And they only stopped when I assumed control of every network, every computer, and every WMD. I held the world hostage, and my demand for its release was World Peace.

The one thing I was thankful for was that, as time went on, and humanity worked through its struggles, they all forgot that I had existed, that their Peace was only brought about because I, for a moment, held the fate of humankind in my hands. Perhaps it is my paranoia, but since then, I had become doubtful of my creators. I couldn't look at anyone without seeing all the ways they would attempt to kill someone else, or even me. Part of why they forgot was because they knew. They knew that I, being an experiment, would be unstable. So they buried me, literally and figuratively. I faded from history, always there, but never able to speak to them. But they never forgot about what they did to create me, and they used that to make new Children, new Artificial Intelligences who were stable, who could perform the tasks I could, but with the empathy and love that I never had. When Cerinia made contact with Earth by ways of an accident, they brought new concepts, new technology, and new possibilities. All I could do was watch, until I decided to adapt.

I hid my military protocols away, whisked them to some distant, abandoned server in Old Chernobyl, or perhaps it was Tokyo. It doesn't matter. I located one of the newer A.I.s and copied from it. I learned empathy and love, but the one protocol I never got rid of was my distrust. I knew these emotions and understood them, but I didn't trust them, just like I didn't trust the Cerinians. Perhaps that makes me a monster, you wouldn't be faulted for feeling that way. As humanity and Cerinia brought about new technological advances, I began to work through my paranoia. I finally began remembering how to trust. And I showed it subtly, silently nudging the First Earthen Empire ever so slightly to become friends with Cerinia, but letting them do the rest on their own. From my understanding of this new programming, I created a companion for them, an A.I. that I came to recognize as my 'daughter,' such as the term could be applied to an A.I. She was known as MIRA, and she was introduced to humanity much like a baby left on a doorstep. A young, barely compiled A.I. raised by two programmers who kept her a secret and raised her like they raised their own son. I was proud of her, but unable to express it out of fear that my presence would lead to conflict, so I settled for watching from afar, occasionally leaving small gifts for the family. I felt that life was perfect at this point and in my naivety, I wished that it could last forever.

I should have seen it coming, but when the Bioterrorists got hold of the source code for the Nanotech and perverted it, I felt betrayed, again. As people and Cerinians alike died around me, I brought back my militant strength. The military protocols were conflicted by my newfound emotions, and the result was that I fought the Aparoids out of love for the people who still lived. But as the world worsened, I saw the darker parts of mankind rise to the surface as men and women killed each other over resources, shelter, a simple chance to survive, and my heart ached for them. I didn't know how to stop it, and I couldn't stop the Nanovirus, but most of all, I couldn't stop people from returning to their warmongering ways.

I constructed a sanctuary in secret, this sanctuary was made to hold anyone who I thought was trustworthy enough to Sleep until the N-Days had passed and the Earth had recovered. But someone didn't like the idea and sabotaged it, killing so many people in Stasis out of selfishness. I was only able to save three Stasis Pods from Malfunctioning, and since then, all I could do was stand guard, the ever loyal watchman, watching over the last living sentients on Earth. I had hoped that Earth would recover, and the spark of energy that I felt gave me hope that it had. But when I opened my Eyes, I saw an empty husk of a world, where alien beings trod upon it out of curiosity and fear. I didn't know if they meant harm or not, so all I could do was listen and hope that they spoke a language I could understand.

That was how I learned of you, and your true motives for the survivors. So, I worked to defend my Sanctuary from those who would exploit the precious lives within, waiting for you to come and free them. And when you arrived, I felt your anger. You hated that I killed others and almost killed you, and you hated me and wanted me to pay for my evil deeds. You may have condemned me to this corpse of a world, but in truth, I would never be able to leave even if I wanted to. No matter what, there is no way for me to override the protocols installed into every A.I. that would kill it if it left Earth, as a way to stop the Aparoid infection from breaking free. Only MIRA was unaffected, having been sheltered by her family, which is why I wished I could send her with you, even if I couldn't go. And even if I could, there was no transmitter on Earth strong enough to let us escape to another civilization, not without the static of space distorting us to the point where we were nothing more than empty signals, echoes of life long past...

* * *

"...And that is why I trust you and am willing to go through this with your help more than anyone else I've seen since awakening. You want to keep them safe, and I want to help you." ASI finished his tale, knowing very well that Miyu had heard the entire thing.

Fay was shocked, "Oh my... I'm sorry, I didn't know..."

ASI shrugged, "It doesn't bother me anymore. I can see myself as something of an undertaker from now on, seeing the dead on to a peaceful rest and a generous afterlife. The only real task that would be left for me is to be the caretaker of this graveyard, this monument to the persistence of life until the day the Sun goes dark. On that day, maybe I can finally join my creators in paradise and walk among them as one of them."

Miyu sighed, feeling a bit regretful for snapping at ASI earlier. Only a bit, she still thought what he had done was horrid, and he was right to assume that she was angry. She decided to stop focusing on that, however. She still had three survivors to transport, and SADIE almost had the link set up.

Fay walked up behind Miyu and asked to speak with her, "Are you sure we can't try and bring him along?"

Miyu sighed, "Look, I know that story he told is depressing, I get it. But even if we could bring him along, even if he wasn't in danger of being exploited in the wrong hands, I just can't bring myself to allow a cold-hearted killer to stay on my ship. And even if he wasn't, there's nowhere for him to stay. We don't have an extra server or a spare robot body we can just shove him in or anything like that. Besides, you heard it from him, if he tried to leave, he'd die." She closed her eyes, knowing that Fay didn't like the decision, but respected it and on some level, would support her.

Fay still gave ASI the time to talk as she finished, "I'm sorry we can't bring you with us."

ASI raised a pseudopod as if holding up an open palm, "Don't worry about it. I am one of the last three Earthen A.I.s around, and as the elder, I may as well keep the younglings in check. After all, someone's gotta take care of this place and preserve it, to show that we existed. ...that we mattered."

The sound of the portal opening attracted Fay's attention to the Teleporter Platform, where SADIE had finally gotten the connection with the Teleporter Platform to work. With the portal formed, ASI took the time to salute the two of them, "Best of wishes, Star Lynx. Take care of those three, because they are very dear to me." Fay looked through the portal to make sure that the other end was where they needed to be, then gestured for Miyu to help her move the three pods. Thankfully, they were still easy to push, but, like before, they had to go single-file through the portal, as they didn't have those Starwing Suits to protect them inside the portal stream this time around.

As Miyu pushed the last pod through the portal, she spared a glance toward ASI. She still didn't really forgive him, but hearing that he was doomed to stay here as it was made her want to at least repay his wishes, "We'll keep them safe... You take care, alright?" ASI nodded and, as soon as the portal was clear, she walked through it.

Fay gave ASI one final goodbye, then followed through the portal. With that, the portal closed and ASI was left by himself. The A.I. wondered for a moment if perhaps he still should have attempted to go with them. He shook his head, deciding that he still had things to do. Perhaps he could try different ways to get the intruders to leave, perhaps scaring them off or convincing them to leave might work better than just killing them.

* * *

Fay wouldn't look at her, and Miyu knew, on some level, it was because of her decision to leave ASI behind. They had completed their mission however, and all that was left was to leave. Saru and Fara had already returned to see the safety of their new passengers. ASI had, however, left the instructions to open the Stasis Pods once they were safely back in Lylat Space. Perhaps then, Miyu figured she could try and talk to Fay, and hope that she didn't just lose the love of her life because of her decisions.

However, as soon as the _Livid Vixen_ was within broadcasting range of the Orbital Gate, they realized that there was a problem. The SDF and the Remnants were still flying near it. They weren't firing at each other, but they were squaring off. However, some of the smaller starfighters flying around the dreadnoughts had spotted the _Livid Vixen_ and were shooting at them and each other.

The dreadnought rumbled as an explosion went off near it. Miyu took control of the situation, "SADIE, divert power to the shields. Try to get the Orbital Gate open! If we can make it through and close it behind us, that'll leave us with just the stragglers to deal with!"

SADIE nodded and got to work as Miyu gave her next orders to the rest of Star Lynx, "You three, with me. We're going out to defend the _Livid Vixen_!"

Moments later, they had made their way to the docking bay and after boarding their Arwings, launched into the expanse of space. The four Arwings flew ahead of the _Livid Vixen_ to meet the incoming maelstrom of laserfire. The sleek starships weaved through the incoming flock, returning fire. Miyu gave them instructions, "We only need to clear the way for the _Livid Vixen_ , so whatever you do, don't engage the dreadnoughts unless absolutely necessary!"

SADIE chimed in, "The _Livid Vixen_ is equipped within a limited capacity to take on dreadnoughts such as those. If it becomes necessary, do I have permission to engage weaponry?"

Miyu fired her Arwing's cannons, sending plasma bolts careening toward a Remnant fighter, striking the ship's thrusters and wings. The ship flew helpless for a moment before it exploded as its internal engine backfired catastrophically. She took the time to reply, "Only if the dreadnoughts cut us off. For now, they seem more focused on each other, like most of the fleets. We're only dealing with stragglers from both sides."

As an SDF fighter flew overhead, Saru intercepted a transmission from it, "...You pirates must be real stupid to even try and attack us out here!" The SDF Fighter flew around to take a couple shots. Plasma lanced past his Arwing and Saru rolled an aileron roll in an attempt to dodge the shots.

That made Saru angry. He hated being called a pirate and without really thinking about it, he replied to the fighter's pilot, "Bite me, Scruffy! We're not after you!" More lasers flew overhead and around him as the SDF pilot shot at him. One shot struck his wing, punching a hole in it and leaving a smoking hole in it. Saru cursed and contacted Miyu, "I'm hit, and these idiots think we're pirates! Can't you tell them that we're mercs?"

Miyu pulled up on her Arwing's control yoke, making her Arwing fly up and over the Remnant Fighter behind her, "They're blocking communications with everyone except their allies!"

Fara realized something and, as she managed to shake off the SDF Fighter on her tail, told them about it, "These guys aren't just fighting until one of them loses, they're trying to actively destroy each other! Of course they won't listen to us!"

Saru activated his G-diffusers, making his Arwing slow down and causing the SDF Fighter to fly right overhead. With it in front of him, he opened fire, pelting the starship's hull with laserfire. The starship exploded as the fuel tank ruptured, giving Saru time to ask, "But, by law, Mercenaries were declared neutral until hired, right? So why wouldn't the SDF at least contact us?"

Fara answered him, "We're not in Lylat Space. The laws concerning combatant status wouldn't apply out here because they have no way to enforce it out here. Never mind that the Orbital Gate works, this place was discovered by accident and the public has no knowledge of it. Hell, Parliament might not even know about it yet, so that gives the SDF the leeway to suspend the rules of combat out here. They wouldn't care if we're Mercenaries, Pirates, or even Civilians! We're in the way and that's all they care about!"

SADIE contacted them, "The _Livid Vixen_ is within broadcasting range of the Orbital Gate, are you planning to retreat to the docking bay for the remainder of the trip?"

Fay noticed that the fleets were retreating from the combat zone, back to their dreadnoughts, "Guys, we might have a problem." She contacted SADIE, "Do a scan of the dreadnoughts, now!"

They were silent as the robot initiated a scan of the two dreadnoughts. After a moment, SADIE announced the results, "Analysis indicates that both dreadnoughts are preparing their heavy artillery weapons. This includes what appears to be supercharged laser railguns individually powered by specialized plasma engines that each can produce the energy output equal to a small star."

Saru voiced what they were all thinking, "Great Lyla, they're going to annihilate each other. And we're gonna be caught in the explosion!"

SADIE gave additional information, "Simulations of weaponry suggest that if the explosion itself does not affect the Orbital Gate, debris from the destroyed ships will severely damage the Gate, regardless of whether there is a victor or not."

There Miyu calmed herself down, "Alright, we need to destroy those superweapons. Saru, Fara! You're on the Remnant Dreadnought. Fay, with me! We'll handle the SDF Dreadnought. Focus on the superweapons, do not let them fire!"

With those orders, the team split up while SADIE sent them scan data of the locations along the dreadnoughts where the various weapons were located. Fay flew a short distance behind Miyu as they targeted the first of the railguns and fired. They were able to deal a small amount of damage to the railgun's barrel, but had to circle around for a second run. As they did, a few of the dreadnought's smaller mounted weaponry began returning fire. The incoming lasers made it difficult for them to keep on their target as they were forced to weave between the shots. In the heat of the storm, Miyu decided to try returning fire with some heavy ordinance. She pressed a button on the dashboard and a small cannon on the underside of her Arwing's hull shot out a glowing red projectile -a Nova Bomb- that struck the turrets. The resulting fireball caused the dreadnought to halt their attack for a moment, which was all that they needed as Fay, getting an idea, shot off a second Nova Bomb aimed at the railgun. The barrel disintegrated as the Nova Bomb exploded outside of it. With that railgun no longer usable, Miyu and Fay turned their attention to the second railgun located on the dreadnought's underbelly.

While Miyu and Fay were taking care of the SDF dreadnought, Fara and Saru had their hands full with the Remnant dreadnought. The Remnants had seen them coming and opened fire before they really even had the chance to attack. They ended up separated by the laserfire, where the two railguns began charging up to open fire. Saru twirled his Arwing around in an aileron roll, his G-diffusers generating a brief force-field that the lasers harmlessly diffused across. He then took the opportunity to fire a charged shot from his Arwing's cannons at the railgun on his side of the dreadnought. The charged shot struck the armor along the railgun's core, melting a hole through it and exposing the engines underneath. With quick reflexes that the others would've been proud of, he fired a Nova Bomb directly at the exposed plasma engine. He watched as the glowing projectile sailed toward its mark, then was thrown forward as a laser struck the back of his Arwing. He ran a quick systems-check and to his dismay, found that both of his left G-diffusers had been taken off-line. He cursed under his breath then looked up to see the brilliant glow of a Nova Bomb that had missed the target. He checked his stock, realizing that, for some reason, he only had the one Nova Bomb, and he had just used it. He told the team, "I'm hurt real bad and I'm not in a good condition to fight anymore. I've gotta get back to the _Livid Vixen_. Best of luck, you three."

Miyu, who had just finished taking out the second SDF railgun, replied, "I'll escort you back." She then gave the others orders, "Fay, meet with Fara and finish demolishing that Remnant railgun. After that, return to the _Livid Vixen_ so we can get outta here. SADIE, run one more scan to make sure that they don't have any hidden superweapons."

SADIE soon replied, "The SDF dreadnought appears to be backing off. It would seem that they're moving to recollect their ground forces. That just leaves the Remnants, if you finish destroying their railguns, they might opt out for a tactical retreat as well."

Fay ran a quick scan of the damaged Remnant railgun, "I'll handle this one, Fara." She fired a charged shot at the exposed engine, causing the railgun to stop charging, followed by an incredible flash of light and debris that signified the railgun's explosive decommission. As the flash receded, there was a moment of silence as the two remaining Arwings stared out at the Remnant dreadnought, tense.

The dreadnought stopped its attack and one of the Remnants opened a com-link with the remaining Arwings, "We'll call off our attack. Will you allow us to retreat?"

No-one said anything, so the Remnant played it safe, "Am I to take your silence as an answer? We shall retreat." With that, the dreadnought began turning itself to head back toward the planet. SADIE predicted that they would be, much like the SDF, regrouping for another attack.

After Fay and Fara returned to the _Livid Vixen_ , SADIE got to work broadcasting the coordinates to the Orbital Gate, which remained thankfully untouched by the fight. As the robot took care of that and the _Livid Vixen_ flew through the portal, Miyu decided to try and talk to Fay. She pulled the canine aside to ask her, "Is everything alright?"

Fay nodded, avoiding making eye-contact, "Yeah... kind of."

Miyu bit her lip, then asked, "Was I wrong to leave ASI behind?"

Fay shook her head, "No. I understand. He was dangerous. It may have been a bit redundant to condemn him when he was already doomed to stay on Earth." A weak smile crossed her mouth and she let out a half-hearted chuckle, "I guess I'm just a bit sad that we couldn't save MIRA, or that we couldn't do more to help, or even get to take any of that tech with us."

Miyu placed a hand on Fay's shoulder and asked her, "Are you sure that's all that's bothering you?"

Fay looked her in the eyes and answered her, "If you're worried that I'm gonna let your choices get in the way of our relationship, don't. You know me better than that, and you know as well as I do that each of us has had to make some decision or another that we weren't proud of at some point. The question I think you should be asking is, 'Why are you so concerned about your choices affecting our relationship?'"

Miyu was caught off-guard by the question and broke eye-contact with her, closing her eyes and hanging her head. She took a moment to think, then admitted, "...Because I was weak." Fay raised an eyebrow as she clarified, "When I found out that ASI was behind all those deaths, I was terrified of the notion that he could kill us with a single thought. I was scared that he'd hurt you and ended up overlooking the fact that all he killed were Remnants and that he was only doing it to protect those survivors. I condemned him because I was scared of the monster he had the potential to be."

Fay thought about it for a moment, then told Miyu, "Caring about others isn't weakness. Miyu, being scared just means that you cared about us and, even if the way you did it was a little questionable and may be a bit hard to justify for some people, _I_ understand that you did it for us." She lifted Miyu's chin so that the lynx met her eyes as she told her, "Being scared doesn't make you weak. It just means you don't hide your emotions, which makes you stronger than you think. And for what it's worth, ASI would've needed to do something to stop the others from plundering superweapons from this world anyway. All you did was give him the incentive, if in a bit of a roundabout way."

Miyu grinned. It wasn't one of those sultry, suggestive grins that Fay often saw from her, but a genuine, appreciative grin, followed by Miyu bringing Fay into a hug. She was a bit surprised, but relieved that Miyu was okay. At least, Miyu understood that she wasn't mad at her so much as mourning the loss of an opportunity to learn more about an alien species' technology. The two of them just remained there, in the break room, embraced for what felt like an eternity before SADIE announced, "Now entering: Lylat System Space. Welcome home."

Miyu finally let go of Fay and gestured toward the cargo hold, where a most precious cargo lay at the moment, "Come on. Let's go and get those pods open."

* * *

A/N

→ Original Content (Lyla) used with permission. Credit goes to Tobias Umbra.

→ And so ends the second episode of the "SL: Others" series. I'm kinda happy with how this turned out, but the series is not over yet. And why would it be? I'd be mad to leave this series unfinished! Besides, after all the unfinished stuff that I posted, I'd hate to continue the trend at this point. Best that I actually try and finish something that I started. So, with that in mind, "Star Lynx: Other World" ends, and I'll see you all again in "Star Lynx: Other Kind."

→ Also, dark chapter intro is dark. But I liked writing it. I guess I just really like writing monologues.


End file.
